With Halloween just around the corner, our ghosts and goblins get loaded up with lots of Fake Foods. While it’s okay for your child to enjoy some holiday treats, allowing him to eat all the candy he receives is unfairly setting him up for poor health and poor behavior. What can you do? Make a trade. Talk to your child ahead of time about your parenting decision to limit the amount of Halloween candy that gets eaten and explain that you want him or her to have fun, but you also have a job to take care of his or her health.

After enjoying a few of the treats, have your child put some favorites aside to eat over the next few days. Then the rest gets traded in. You can offer a dime for each piece of candy. Or, you can set a pre-determined dollar amount. The key to success here is to make a date to go to the bookstore or favorite toy store the very next day so your child can spend the money on something fun that won’t promote illness. By offering a trade-in for the candy you are honoring that she 'worked' for the candy and it's hers.  It’s a win/win situation!