As costume catalogs come in the mail and Halloween quickly approaches again, I wonder how to keep my kids away from the negative side of this holiday. I’m all for dressing up and pretending, my kids love that. In fact, they wear costumes year round. I’m not a fan of the scary costumes and decorations. Last year at Sam’s we had to strategically walk around the store so that life-size demonic figures wouldn’t scream at the kids. Almost as much as I hate the demonic stuff, I hate the candy obsession that comes with it. We steer clear of conventional candy around here. For special treats, they usually get
organic fruit strips,
organic 85% dark chocolate,
xylitol sweetened gum, or their favorite, “
strawberry candy,” which is fish oil disguised as a starburst. We don't use white sugar. We use raw honey and pure maple syrup to sweeten things and when baking. We don't drink soda pop and I stopped buying fruit juice over a month ago. The only juice they get now is fresh carrot, apple and celery juice that I make in my kitchen. I don't feel like my kids are deprived at all. I've had people scoff at my decision to not make a big fancy sugar filled cake for every birthday party. For Owen's 1st, we had a gluten free devil's food cake without icing and organic vanilla ice cream. My kids never knew the difference. They were just in heaven to be having cake. I feel like I only have so long to influence their eating choices and I want them to know that healthier choices are available and it's what they are used to anyway, so it's no loss. How much easier (and longer) will life be for them since they won't have to change their eating habits when they get older? So, back to my original thought, Halloween candy. My plan is to let them go around to houses that we know and I'll switch out their candy with mom-approved stuff afterwards. They won't know what they're missing. ;)
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| Halloween 2008 |
