The Day After

I have always worried about the amount of candy my kids collect and consume on Halloween. I usually try to limit the amount of candy they can have - "You can have two pieces after lunch, and two pieces after dinner". It's not a lot of fun being the candy master, and it only makes the candy stash last even longer.  But it's what I do because too much candy is bad, right?  Well, with that in mind, imagine how I felt when I came downstairs the day after Halloween and saw this....

The good thing is that they were quietly sorting and trading their candy with one another. Some of them were even making a small pile for their dad and me!  And, yes, there were plenty of empty wrappers on the floor also. The candy feast had begun.  

We had the marvelous idea to make cookies using Halloween candy. We chopped up Reese's, Milky Ways, and Three Musketeers.  We emptied fun sized packages of M&M's into the batter, too. They were delicious!

Everyone contributed to the cookies if they wanted to enjoy them. This helped reduce some of the stash. We're thinking it should become a day-after-Halloween tradition. Our only improvement for next year is that we would use MORE candy!   

It was not really a conscious decision on my part, but the kids have, so far, had unlimited access to their candy. And, so far, no one has gotten a tummy ache or even experienced the legendary "sugar high" that parents are so often warned about.  Maybe the lesson I am learning is to let go of some of that control I think I need to have over things. It's a lot less stressful not to have to tell them how much candy they are allowed to eat. And it's more peaceful, too. 

Now...if I could just transfer that lesson onto other areas of my life.