UNITED STATES—Halloween has come and gone, and now comes the difficult job of shifting through those piles of candy to ensure nothing harmful is injected by your children. I remember when Halloween used to be such a fun day, but nowadays you can never be too careful. People older than the typical ‘trick or treat’ age (I’d say 13 or 14 is the cut-off) are still going door to door for candy.
Is it scary that adults do it or the fact that adults do so intending something worse? Why do I ask, well some people are using Halloween as a way to rob unsuspecting citizens? Sometimes we don’t really consider who could be saying ‘trick or treat’ before we answer the door.
There are some evil people out there, looking to take the good spirit and fun of Halloween away. I’d say if you don’t feel comfortable with the person at or walking towards your door, don’t open it!
Now transitioning to the world of candy, its good, but too much is always a bad sign. It’s like once you have 1 piece, it’s difficult to stop, and with kids it’s even worse. Now that the treats have been obtained, its time to inspect it. When the child is sleep dump the candy out and inspect every piece; discard items like fruit or any candy that is wrapped. There is no way to tell if the item is safe to consume or not.
Why people give out candy corn or fruit, I’ll never know. Check all the candy to ensure nothing is open; if it is, toss it. Put a limit on how much you allow the child to consume. I’d say 2-3 pieces in a certain time frame are suitable. Nothing more than that. Children can easily get wired with just a few pieces of sugar. You don’t want your child to be bouncing off the walls.
Some other alternatives to get rid of that excess amount of candy involve donating the candy to charity. Some communities are even offering cash in exchange for candy. That can be an incentive for some children to take cash to purchase something that they really want, versus having a few pieces of sugar.
Money can be used to buy toys and other items, candy is just candy. It’s an obvious choice if you ask me. Whatever precautions you take enjoy the post festivities of the happiest day in a kid’s life next to Christmas.
