I’ve already shared my thoughts on how to have a healthy Halloween—DON’T!
I say, let Halloween be what it is: a candy-fest.
However, you can use Halloween to teach some healthy eating habits.
Huh? Don’t strive to have a healthy Halloween but do use Halloween to teach healthy eating habits? See what I mean by reading Getting Ready for Halloween.
Use this pre-Halloween period to teach your kids the valuable principle of Proportion.
The principle of proportion sounds complicated. How many kids do you know who have mastered ratios? But it’s actually quite simple to teach proportion.
- “We eat foods like fruits and vegetables more often than foods like chips and candy.” AND
- “We eat foods like fruits and vegetables more often than foods like chicken nuggets and mac ‘n cheese.”
Teaching your kids how to apply proportion to Halloween is more important than coping with all that candy. Wanna know why?
That mountain of candy only happens once a year. Overeating events happen all the time. Think Thanksgiving, Christmas. anytime you’re at Grandma’s house (or The Cheesecake Factory).
Proportion is an important skill that will carry your kids through those events too. It’s easy to teach too.
“We’re not going to eat any sweets and treats for the next few days so we can eat candy on Halloween.”
For good measure add: “And that way we’ll have eaten a healthy diet this week.”
Don’t be subtle. Your kids won’t pick proportion up by observing it (or by osmosis).
You have to teach proportion explicitly by talking about it. OUT LOUD!
Warning: This is NOT a bribe.
Never say, “Eat your broccoli today if you want to eat your candy on Halloween.” Or, “If you don’t eat your vegetables for the next few days you won’t be able to eat your candy on Halloween.”
And what should you do if your kids eat a couple of cookies between now and Halloween?
Think of this as a learning process. Engage your kids in the conversation and tell them you hope they’ll do better tomorrow.
~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~
