slides: 11 Ways To Help Kids Curb Their Halloween Candy Crazy

Monday, October 28, 2013

GoLocalWorcester Health Team

Here comes Halloween, and while Central Massachusetts kids are gearing up for a candy extravaganza, their parents may be dreading the sugar assault on their children's health.

And they should be dreading, according to statistics that show that Americans buy nearly 600 million pounds of candy during the Halloween season. That boils down to about 1.9 pounds of candy per person.

Kate Roberts, a consulting psychologist to school districts throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts, says that with obesity and diabetes on the rise, not to mention the scare you’ll get at the dentist’s office parents may want to limit some of this devilish behavior. “The key to successful Halloween is parents’ ability to need to balance being a voice of reason with celebrating a child’s favorite candy holiday,” said Roberts.

Roberts shared the following tips for helping parents beat the Halloween sugar high.

Related Slideshow: Expert Tips For Handling Kids’ Halloween Candy Craze

Psychologist Kate Roberts shares the following tips for helping kids handle the sugar assault on Halloween.

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Candy bag

Reduce the size of their candy bag or limit the number of houses they hit.

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Make it routine

Allow a child to eat the candy until it’s gone as their “regular” intake of sweets, not in addition to the treats they take in daily. As part of this, you can also teach kids to leave room for the candy, instead of eating huge meal and still going after the candy.

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Create awareness

Help kids learn to regulate their own intake. Parents who micro manage intake may have a child who overcompensates by sneaking candy or over eating any chance he gets; whereas permitting kids to decide affords them the choice to say “no” and they will.” One way to do this now is to practice “Mindful eating”, before Halloween and the other food indulgent holidays! This means asking your children when they eat sweets why they are doing so and asking them to be aware of when they are full and when they are hungry. Use a 1-5 rating scale to help them quantify their hunger. Once they admit they want to eat when they are not hungry, it will help you to distract them and teach them how to do this as well.

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Change of pace

Allowing the kids to indulge right after trick or treat, the night of Halloween and then limit their intake to a certain number of pieces a day. For example, one with lunch, one with an after school snack and one after dinner.

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Helping obese kids

For overweight children, try to focus on certain type of candy, such as hard candy or candy like a lollipop that will last longer and tends to be lower in calories.

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Helping diabetic kids

Diabetic children also will want to have some candy. Parents of diabetic children report that if they practice moderation they have more cooperation, and less resistance and sneaking behavior then if they insist on total abstinence. This is the same for overweight children.

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The freezer trick

Some parents like to store candy in the freezer or fridge. When it’s colder, it's more difficult to eat candy fast. It also may be less tasty.

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Babysitter strategy

Recognize that when babysitters or indulgent relatives are caretakers, the candy is more likely to come out. Rather than convince these caregivers how it’s not good to overindulge, it is better to remove it when they are in charge, rather than delegate this decision to them.

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Share the candy by giving it to the troops abroad. Many local dentists have candy drop offs and send it out to troops.

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Swap it out

Have the Halloween Pumpkin or Witch replace every piece of candy left under the pillow with a quarter. The kids can make money instead of cavities! Or if a child is very overweight, consider talking directly about candy being against the goal of weight reduction and buy it back with a goal of doing something active and fun with the money.