Just Let Kids Eat their Halloween Candy

First came Elf on the Shelf, which I refused to invite into my home, and fortunately, my kids didn’t care for it anyway. But then I started hearing about another otherworldly creature coming to rob kids of holiday fun: the Switch Witch. To incentivise kids to eat less sugar after trick-or-treating, parents are making their kids place their Halloween candy at their doorstep for the Switch Witch to replace with a toy.

Even more insidious than the Switch Witch is a new trend of selling Halloween candy to dentists — at a going rate of about a dollar per pound — in the first week of November. Dentists apparently donate the candy to charities and such, which I suppose is a good cause, but engaging children in this particular twisted version of capitalism rubs me the wrong way.

I hate the Switch Witch and the buyback programs. First of all, giving kids a toy (that’s likely plastic) or cash (to be used on toys) isn’t teaching them anything useful. And if parents are trying to convey that candy is simply not healthy, I disagree on the approach.

Back in the ’90s, my mom didn’t check my candy for razor blades after trick-or-treating like some parents, but she was a Californian “almond mom.” That means she was on a diet off and on my whole childhood and would sometimes take us down with her, banning sugar or red meat, or when it came to Halloween, carefully portioning out our candy with us. She meant well, but it did romanticize candy. I morphed into a dragon guarding her hoard — no tax for my dad. I ate all my candy. I ate every last disgusting box of Dots and Whoppers.

Then came the middle-school eating disorder.

Teaching kids to make healthy eating choices does not cause eating disorders, but, for me, the perfect storm of disposition and circumstance messed me up about food for my entire youth.

As an adult, I sought help, which included seeing a therapist who specialized in intuitive eating. When it came to my kids, I adopted the idea that food is neither good nor bad. Candy isn’t something evil that you only get “if you’re good.” Candy is your Halloween-given right.

On Halloween night, I let my kids eat whatever they want — and no one’s thrown up yet. Then, the Halloween candy comes out every night after dinner and we discuss how many pieces seems like a reasonable amount to consume in one sitting. I was amazed that even when my children, who lack impulse control in most other scenarios, were in preschool, they never tried to gorge themselves, nor did they sneak candy after it was put away.

Even more amazing, after a few days, they stopped caring about their candy. Their favorites had already been consumed and they abandoned their second-tier choices. They never counted their candy like it was precious gold. It’s just candy.

With that in mind, I say forget the Switch Witch and don’t let the dentist guilt you about tooth decay. Here’s to finding balance somewhere in the middle between an “almond mom” rationing out your loot and the overcorrection of anxious parents today, and enjoying your Halloween sweets.