News Bulletin: Halloween Candy Strikes Fear in Parents across the Nation!
The apples of your eye, your precious children, are about to dress up in scary costumes, take candy from strangers, and throw themselves into sugar overload. It’s a tradition! As an all-American parent, you just need to grin and bear it. Right?
Good news. You don’t have to ruin your kids’ fun. These tips will help you transform the potentially haunting experience into a positive and rewarding memory.
In addition to the rules for costume safety, traffic safety, and trick-or-treating with a responsible adult…1. Check all candy before your children consume it. Open packages, homemade treats, and (for everyone, but particularly for kids with braces, fillings, or crowns) extremely sticky delicacies should be thrown out.
- Before Halloween comes, ask your dentist to place dental sealants on your child’s teeth. This will help reduce the potential for tooth decay.
- Check all candy before your children consume it. Open packages, homemade treats, and (for everyone, but particularly for kids with braces, fillings, or crowns) extremely sticky delicacies should be thrown out.
- Trade gum with your child. Offer Orbit or Trident (with zylitol for tooth protection) as a swap for the less healthy selections.
- Pace your child’s candy intake. Allow a few treats on Halloween night, then let him/her choose a special selection every morning to place in his brownbag lunch. By eating candy with a meal, your child’s saliva will help remove sugars from teeth.
- Children should brush two or three times a day, floss once, and rinse with water after eating starchy or sugary foods.
- Your children should eat candy quickly, not linger over it for an hour. Eat, swallow, and rinse those choppers with water or fluoride mouthwash. The less time sugar sits on teeth, the better!
- Buy back your child’s candy. Offer a nickel per piece and a ride to the toy store!
- Kids with braces should avoid sticky and hard candies, as well as popcorn. Enjoy to the best of the best – chocolate!
- Be a good neighbor. Hand out something other than candy to kids. Pencils, stickers, plastic jewelry, and bottled water mixes are good alternatives.
- Keep your kids’ candy hoard out of sight and reach after Halloween night – or get rid of it altogether. Do not allow your children to keep candy in their bedrooms!
BONUS TIP: Eat a healthy, filling meal before going trick-or-treating. A full tummy leaves less room for junk food!