How do I explain to my 3 year old why we can't eat Halloween candy?

Question

don't think I am crazy! I am a health nut. My son get enough candy trick or treating for 50 kids. I let him pick out 3 pieces, but he is not comprehending my explanation of junk food. I made my husband take the rest of the candy to work, but I still feel bad because my son is asking for his candy. What should I tell him!?!?

You people would seriously let a kid have THAT much candy? The kid has had 3 slices of birthday cake in his whole life (that is the extent of anything he has ate remotely considered junk food) so 3candies to him is a whooole lot. It's not like I said, "muhawawa I am the evil mother taking away Halloween." I gave him 3 candies last night, and then daddy took the candy while baby was still sleeping this morning. He will forget it by the afternoon. To him Halloween WAS about dressing up, not just the candy.

Answer 1

Listen, this may be hard for you to understand, but there is nothing wrong with letting your son have more candy than usual on Halloween. I know that you are concerned about his health, BUT LISTEN... Kids accross North America have been trick-or-treating for candy for years now. It fills them with joy, lights up their emotions, and is very special to them to come back home afterwards and prey upon their bounty of candy. NOBODY HAS EVER gotten rediculously fat from just a couple of nights of eating candy. It is their time to seize, if you take this candy away from him it will leave a mark in his mind for the rest of his life. Sure he will understand "why" later in life, but he will always say, "Gee, i wish i could have had fun like the other kids." Let him be a kid.

Kids don't understand eating healthy and making good food choices yet at their age. What you can do is inform him often, try to implant it in his brain that "too much junk is bad" and tell him what junk is. As a kid, there is nothing you can do to stop him now, and you shouldn't. I'm not saying that you should let him become obese and full of chocolate. But I am saying that you should let him enjoy his childhood while he can.

When he is older, he will inderstand what healthy choices are (if you guide him). Then he can make decisions for himself. PERSONALLY, i am a health freak. if i were to have ONE mini Twix bar, i would have to cut back on my dinner, go for a longer than usual walk, and work off more than is needed; all for ONE TWIX!! This is me now, and this may not be a good way to deal with food choices, but it is who i am shaped to be now and it has helped me stay fit, strong, and athletic. And you know what?? When I was a kid I would splurge on my Halloween treats. i'd dig into my loot as soon as i got home that night, take some to school in my lunch, and snack on it frequently. Heck, that was not the best way to approach candy, but as an 18 year old now, I've come to make healthy choices. If someone were to yank my candy from me (i'm not saying you yank it. But that's how it appears to a child) I would have been devastated and would have thought at my present age "I wish i could have had a normal Halloween like everyone else"

Conclusion.. I'm not criticizing you, but you have to let your child behave as a child. He needs these memories in the future for his development and morale. Don't let him splurge, but let him enjoy his loot. Guide him along the way, so that he will be able to reel away from the junk food web conciously on his own as a young adult, when he is in the rational thinking stage.

Answer 2

maybe you shouldn't get so much candy - or gee maybe you could have put some of it away for a while - I always put mine in the freezer. have your husband bring some of the candy back and let your son have a piece or two a day - after lunch - if you just put a little bit in one bag and let him pick it out, he can see that its disappearing and soon you won't have any more to worry about. If you give him a good diet otherwise, a little bit of candy for a little while isn't going to hurt him. I have seen kids who were denied candy as kids that when they were old enough to be out with friends - guess what they pigged out on? wasn't veggie burgers. However, my daughter was allowed to have some candy now and then and guess what she had when she went out with her friends? wasn't the candy! I'm not sure a 3 yr-old can comprehend the definition of junk food.

Answer 3

18 months previous? She's too youthful to truly "get" the assumption of swapping candy for a toy. yet in addition to how many properties do you think of she will make it to? 10? 15? Then she's completed. My teenagers at that age only went to three prompt associates. That became lots interest. There only isn't all that lots candy except you're pushing her around in a stroller soliciting for it your self, and that's some thing you could administration. Take the candy residing house, placed it in a jar, and enable her have one piece a night until eventually it extremely is long previous. And if it extremely is long previous in 3 days because of the fact mom & Dad helped consume it so be it.

Answer 4

Wow, why even bother celebrating halloween? You cant dress a kid up, send him trick or treating, and then give his candy to someone else!! I undertstand worrying about health but halloween is only once a year!! 3 pieces of candy? come on now. If you want to set limits, 3 pieces today, 3 pieces tomorrow, etc. Stretch the candy out over a week or two. You should feel bad! Tell him you are sorry that you had him parade around in a costume to beg for candy that he cant even have!!

Answer 5

Kids aren't adults. Sure kids are growning and they need healthy food so they can grow right but they shouldn't be worried about all that health junk until they get older. Kids shouldn't be on a specific diet and it wouldn't have killled you to let him have his candy. I am very healthy and when i was young my mother and grandmother practically bathed me in candy and treats. I know what you shold do, you should go buy him some more candy because what you did was basically mean and if you weren't gonna let him have his candy why did you let him trick or treat in the first place?

Answer 6

That's horrible. If you're so against the candy, then you shouldn't have taken him trick or treating to get all this candy, and then tell him he can't have it. That's very wrong of you. I'm with you on the junk food thing. I wouldn't want that stuff around either, but you can't show it to him and then expect him to understand why you're taking it away. If you're not careful with him, when he's old enough to rebel, he'll eat everything in sight. You can't deprive children like that. It's the very definition of forbidden fruit.

Answer 7

Tell him that too much candy will hurt his tummy (technically true) and that it is just for dessert only.

But sending the candy to work? What were you thinking? 3 bits of candy for Hallowe'en? If it were Christmas, you'd be Scrooge!

Rationing the candy out teaches moderation, which is healthy. 3 bits of candy a day would be great for a 3 year old. And it would teach counting skills, too.

There's also the natural consequence, too. Letting the kid get a bit of a tummyache from too much candy won't kill him, but he won't soon forget the price of excess!

Answer 8

If you're that much against junk food, why did you take him trick or treating? Halloween is all about candy, and it's what kids love. You should have stopped after 3 houses (or until he reached his limit) if you took him. At three years old, he's not going to understand the concept, but you're in luck - he's likely to not remember this when he's older. (My oldest memory was when I was 4.) Next year, don't encourage the trick or treating (since everyone gives out candy) if you're against it. He'll eventually stop asking for the candy, just wait it out.

Answer 9

Did you know that when he gets older he will just go to other people's houses and eat junk there?Did you know you are probably breeding a future slacker? And did you know that you are teaching poor traits? Kids that grow up in these enviroments, became the heavest partiers and the obese kids as they get older. Or they are subject to eating disorders.They also rebel more. Loosen up, it was Halloween! Go get his candy back. If you want him to have good habits, dont make junk food such a big deal.it won't be such a rebelious thing to eat! Nice way to be controlling!

Answer 10

Explain to him that it is okay to have some a little bit at a time. Be selective about what you give him if you are worried about how healthy it is. It is, after all, candy, and not to mention you did allow him to go trick or treating. I am sure you were only trying to do what was right for your son, but it wasn't wise to take him out for halloween if you knew you weren't going to let him eat the candy. A firm foundation is a solid one in which you have kept consistency of upbringing and teachings with your child. That is to say that, what you teach him now, he will take with him for life and his children will have to endure it as well. Be careful.