So I've been reading some other blogs, namely SUM (Kerri rocks!) and I've been inspired by some of her readers to re-examine my approach to Halloween, just a little.
I think I'm on the right track with the "Candy Swap" idea, but I don't think I'm being very realistic or... well, let's face it... FUN expecting Jenna to do back flips at the chance to trade her Halloween candy stash for books. How lame is that?
So I'm going to learn from the wisdom of some of Kerri's readers and purchase a few fun little toys to swap. That's not to say I will omit the book idea entirely. I'll just limit it to one or two books. I do get tired of reading the same books to my girls at bedtime. I usually like to take advantage of any opportunity to broaden the selection of reading material.
It was also suggested to allow a treat to be enjoyed during the trick-or-treating; the idea being she would burn off the carbs of the treat while ripping around the neighbourhood. Makes total sense. Only problem is it breaks rule #1. And this is a rule that, as I discussed in yesterday's blog entry, I, myself had to observe in my trick-or-treating days. It was a safety measure since in my day the big urban, Halloween folk-lore was that some kid in some other obscure city somewhere had been poisoned by a treat that had been tampered with. That along with the "razor blade in the apple" horror story caused freaked out parents all over North America to forbid the consumption of candy before it had been thoroughly checked over at home, and to promptly toss all apples obtained during trick-or-treating into the trash. I actually think one would be hard pressed to find a single apple in the bag of any little ghost or goblin on Halloween night to this day. That kind of bad press tends to stick, even though I read not too long ago that it was just an urban myth and never did actually happen.
But I'm getting side-tracked.
My point is that, even though it makes good sense to let Jenna nibble on otherwise forbidden goodies while she gets a little cardio work-out, I think I'll refrain from doing that. It could snowball into a "one treat leads to two, then three..." situation. I also like the idea of looking over all the treats at home for safety sake. You can't be too careful when it comes to your kids.
I will also heed the advice to concentrate more on the costume than the treats. Maybe we will also limit trick-or-treating to just a quick trip around the block then come home to help hand out candy to the other kids. Jenna would love that!
OK. So it'll be alright. I just have to remember not to make that big a deal of it. Jenna shouldn't feel like we are centering her out just because of the big "D". I want her to feel no different than any other kid... at least as much as that is possible, given that she has diabetes and it's Halloween we're talking about here.
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