We live in a large suburban neighborhood. Most of its residents are elderly folks who are so excited to see a child walk up their front steps. On average, my kids receive one hundred to two hundred pieces of candy PER CHILD, on Halloween night.
I wanted to mention something that we started doing four years ago. It seemed to me that every year, the week after Halloween, my little ones got some sort of virus or cold that hung on until Thanksgiving. My theory was that their immune systems got overtaxed on Halloween candy. Whether that theory is true or not, we instituted something called "The Great Candy Swap" in our home.
Here is how it works. Each Halloween day, the children have the option to:
- Keep all of their candy
- Keep 15 pieces of their candy and take a trip to Chuck E Cheese's or some other kid venue.(Last year, I also offered a cash option of $5 rather than the Chuck E Cheese trip.)
When a friend of mine heard about our Halloween options, she felt that it was mean to rob the kids of their hard earned candy. I want to explain that there is no coersion on my part to do this. The children make the choice themselves.
Since the Swap began, all of the children have opted for the 15 pieces. On All Saints day, we drive down to the St. Augustine Hunger Center after Mass and donate all of the bags of candy that were given up to the soup kitchen. The kids take the bags in themselves and hand them to the workers there. They are always happy to give the people a treat and end up feeling really good about their decision. This year Mary andBen debated as to whether they should keep their candy or not. Ultimately, they both chose to donate it because they "wanted those people to have a treat since they don't ever get one".
Makes my heart warm inside and keeps the family healthy and strong. Plus, Mom stays out of the chocolate! :)
