01 Nov How To Manage The Halloween Aftermath
I know that I cannot be the only Mom who worries about how to manage the Halloween aftermath. As we’ve become much more aware of what we are eating and feeding our children, the thought of my children downing buckets of candy on Halloween night absolutely horrifies me.
My children are normally healthy and robust. I am blessed to say that we have not had a sick doctor visit in years. We are intentional about supporting our immune systems naturally. However, a recent experience brought me a reality check. Our family spent the night at a local hotel that housed a water park. Knowing that these places are cesspools of disease, I was careful about giving my children immune-boosting foods, essential oils, and supplements for a couple of days before. Once there, we caved to the children’s request for pancakes for breakfast. Now, these weren’t just pancakes. These came with all kinds of candy pieces so that they could make their own pancake faces. My creative little kids had a ball, but by halfway through the meal, Clark was leaning against me, saying “Mommy, my tummy doesn’t feel very good.” And I knew we’d made a big mistake.
Coincidence? I don’t think so!
It wasn’t even two days later that it REALLY started – the sore throat, the lethargy, the stomach aches, then the stuffy noses, and the coughing. Oh, the coughing! I’d forgotten how horrible coughing sounds! I knew exactly what was going here, and I knew it was my fault.
The correlation between sugar and sickness suddenly became abundantly clear. We know that sugar is a powerful immune system depressant. So even though I had tried to build up my children’s immunity with food and supplements, I shouldn’t have wasted my time and efforts if I was going to dump sugar down their hatches.
And now, here we are with literally buckets of candy, full of sugar, all ready to beat down those immune systems a little more. I DON’T THINK SO! We’re going to get rid of this stuff!
What can we do with Leftover Halloween Candy?
Most people I know who don’t eat their candy give it away. There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with turning around and donating your Halloween haul to sick children, the homeless or soldiers overseas. I mean, if I truly believe this amount of sugar is damaging and unhealthy for my children, I certainly don’t want it going to children who are struggling to live, poor souls exposed to the elements, and to soldiers who rely on their health to serve our country. So I did a little investigation to see what other options there were for our Halloween candy. Here are my top 10 (beside eating it for breakfast):
- Save it to decorate your Gingerbread House for Christmas. Who ever eats those anyways?
- Buy it back from your kids for $1/pound and let them choose a small toy or book instead.
- Have the kids leave the candy out on Halloween night for the Candy Fairy to collect. She may leave a small toy or book instead.
- Use it for science experiments
- Make your candy into art
- Make your own paint out of candy
- Use them as manipulatives when doing homeschool math
- Create some STEM structures
- Make a Christmas Advent Calendar (at least one a day is better than a bucket)
- Just throw it in the garbage. It’s trash anyway!
What do you do with your Halloween candy?
No Comments