Achieving Moderation Before, During and After Halloween Night
Halloween may not be known for moderation – or balance, for that matter, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy “smart sweets” during the spookiest season of the year.
For many parents, including a certain Together Counts™ Energy Balance Ambassador who shall remain nameless, this is an extremely difficult time of year to get the concepts of balance and moderation to cut through the non-stop spooktacular festivities.
Fear not! There’s hope for us all! Here are four easy ideas to try this Halloween season to achieve balance in the autumnal aisle of your favorite store, at home on Halloween night, and on the sugar-high days that follow!
The Candy Can Wait
Buy your family’s Halloween candy just before October 31st. This way, you’ll be able focus on enjoying sweet treats right around when the ghosts and goblins come knocking on doors.
Trade Candy For Family Fun
Every parent has that one kid’s activity, the one toy or craft your child always wants you to help with, that drives them batty — for me, it’s Play-Doh. This November, barter with your kiddo by asking your child to swap pieces of candy for their favorite active family game, iPad time, or even that fragrant molding clay that you can’t bear to touch.
It’s As Easy As ABC
Allow your kiddo to select and keep two pieces of candy for every letter of the alphabet, to be enjoyed over a period of time. For example, they might decide to keep 1 Milky Way and 1 bag of M&Ms, 2 Kit-Kats, 1 Twizzler and 1 Twix, 2 boxes of Nerds, 1 sleeve of Smarties and 1 Snickers Bar, and so on. This is a built-in moderation tool (a max of 52 pieces kept,) an educational opportunity for young candy lovers to go over their ABCs, and it’s also a trick that might encourage picky candy eaters to try a Baby Ruth or a Zagnut bar, for example.
Sugar for Soldiers
Encourage philanthropy on Halloween night and make a chocolate and non-chocolate candy donation pile for Operation Gratitude. They will help supply our troops with a portion of your family’s Halloween treats!
Jeff Bogle is Together Counts Ambassador, and an at-home dad who writes humorously about parenting and All Things Childhood on his site Out With The Kids. His work also frequently appears on The Huffington Post and The Good Men Project, among other print and online outlets.