Boo, Humbug.

Forgive me, but I hate Halloween. 

Yes, yes, I know - I'm the Scrooge of Halloween...I hate that my kids expect to purchase a new costume every year that they wear once and then crinkle up in a pile on the floor until it's eventually put away never to see the light of day again.  I hate all the scads of candy they "work hard" to collect, then expect to be able to eat in one fell swoop.  I hate that after they binge on said candy they act as if they're wild animals - one minute high as kites, the next whiny, out of control sugar-crashed messes.

That said, I do actually like seeing how excited and proud they are to don their new costumes (likely the reason I break down and purchase new each year).  I like seeing how excited they get about the whole thing - and how they start honing their bargaining skills by counting, sorting and categorizing their stash - then negotiating trades with their siblings and cousins.  Kid #1 gets even more popular;  everyone wants first dibs on the dairy-allergic kid...she has quite the bargaining power when it comes to switching out her chocolate candy for non-dairy stuff.


Anyway - I wish we could do all this with less junk...and not have a major rebellion.  All year I work hard at keeping candy and other garbage to a minimum with my kids - only to be completely derailed once October 31st arrives...and then it takes until seemingly the New Year to detox!  I actually had the audacity to tell them they could pick 10 pieces of candy to keep, and that we'd send the rest overseas to our troops...Kid #1 cried.  Hard.  Sheesh.

I get it.  Kids like treats - we all do.  But I struggle with the fact that this stuff has zero nutritional value - and the fact my kids still have a lot of growing and developing to do...I only want them to put the good stuff in, to ensure everything develops the right way...I'm certainly not saying they can't ever have a treat, but 1-2x/day EVERY day is too much in my opinion.  My thought is, we do a heckofalot of damage to ourselves when we're younger...only to pay the price when we're older.  Isn't it my job as their mom to make certain they grow up healthy?

So - I caved and let them pick 20 pieces to keep.  I got a little flak, but they understood why.  I hope that by continually talking to them about my reasons why I don't let them just eat whatever will stick someday...and those 20 pieces go PDQ...I'd like to make it to Thanksgiving already out of the mode of expecting a sweet treat after dinner every night...just in time for pumpkin pie. 

Jimmy Kimmel's Challenge "I told my kids I ate all their Halloween candy"...Quite possibly the best "Halloween" challenge ever issued...and the kids at the end are priceless.