Halloween's Candy Compromise

What could be more evocative of late October in Greenwich than falling leaves, Saturday morning soccer games and hundreds of youth converging on neighborhoods like Maher Avenue in a scene akin to an Occupy Wall Street rally?

Yes, folks, it’s Halloween again! Time for your little monsters to spend that one night a year roaming the streets in search of that holy grail they call Kit Kat, or Crunch Bar or Milky Way or, well, you get the picture.

It’s a brief moment of utopian pleasure for most kids but for most parents, it’s the evening they’ve been bracing themselves for since last November. The prelude to the dreaded, week-long sugar high.  This is a time of serious negotiation between parent and child in which the younger, more energetic party intends to take no prisoners. So how are parents to deal?  My suggestions would be the following:

Start talking to your kids about the grander experience of Halloween. Place greater emphasis on how much fun it is to be out on a school night with their friends. Play up the costumes and the social aspect instead of the candy.

If you feel that your child really has a hard time handling a large infusion of sugar but don’t want to deny them the social pleasures of trick or treating be willing to make a few concessions. Allow them to trick or treat but when they come home have them select a few pieces of their favorite candy and donate the rest to your office. To off-set the blow of sacrifice, have a bag of natural candy on hand to present as an alternative. Whole Foods also offers natural treats such as Surf Sweets, which are a real hit with kids. For more information see surfsweets.com. Many other natural and organic sweets can be purchased online through sites such as indiecandy.com or naturalcandystore.com. These sites offer natural, allergen free candy of all varieties.

in Old Greenwich is a gourmet candy and ice cream shop. While they do not offer organic candy products, their candy is made from high quality ingredients. For example, their dark chocolate pumpkin pops are made of high quality cocoa and sugar instead of corn syrup and contain no fillers or preservatives. As a rule of thumb, when allowing children to have chocolate, parents should choose dark chocolate whenever possible.

My final piece of advice would be this. Halloween comes once a year. It’s a childhood institution. Nothing in moderation has ever killed anyone. If you are a sensible parent who uses the other 364 days to instill smart eating habits in your children, let them win this battle. You’re still in control of the war.