• Many grocery stores have been improving their selection of products intended for Diabetics.  Most, if not all of the items available have no sugar and taste great.  Switching to sugar free candies and cookies can save calories, cavities and sugar highs.
• Party stores are another fun resource for picking up inexpensive party favors that can be used in place of candy. While everyone else is giving out undistinguishable bars of chocolate, you will be known for the house with the fun games. Just be careful of the age appropriateness and do not give to children that may swallow small parts.
• Make your own candy.  It is easier than you think to make candy and bake cookies that will be full of flavor and you get to control the amount of sugar.
• Allow the kids to scare up all of the candy they want, but require that they share part of their take with less fortunate kids or donate the candy to kids that couldn’t get out.  Your kids would have some candy and they would learn an important lesson in generosity.
• As above, let them have it all, but require that they divide it up over several months.  Staggering the treats will help them learn a valuable lesson in self control and saving for a rainy day.

Practice safety.  Whether the treats are healthy or not, make sure you check all of the loot to make sure there are no surprises or items that you would not want your child to have thrown in the bag.

Remember the holiday is not just for kids, so have some fun with it too.

• Water - no matter how much water you think you will need, on hot days you can dehydrate very quickly. Bring several refillable bottles so you can save the planet while saving yourself.
• Sunscreen – even if you are going to the park and not the beach the sun is just as powerful as it peaks through the trees.
• Change of clothes – even afternoon outings can be cut short by minor spills or water gun fights. They don’t call some of today’s water guns “Super Soakers” for nothing.
• Light jackets - while not planned, sometimes your afternoon fun can extend into a cool evening.
• Garbage bags – bringing a banana is good. Shoving the peel under the seat is not good, nor is tossing it out the window. Why waste time looking for a receptacle when you can bring your own.
• First Aid Kit – kids will be kids and having fun at the park or beach means running, jumping and scraping something.
• Books – even kids run out of steam sometimes and having a book to read or have read to them for some down time can be very relaxing.
• Games – have some planned activities or games to get things started otherwise you will hear; “this is boring, there is nothing to do here”.
• Games for the car – depending on the length of the drive, kids get bored easily.
• Water – did I already mention “water”? Yes it is that important to be listed twice.

Have fun!

To kids all candy is good, but make sure at the end of the night you go through the candy to make sure it is all good.  Sometimes candy can sit for too long and may look pretty gross.  When in doubt, throw it out.  Keep some of your own candy to switch with the kids so they don’t feel cheated.  You may also want to dole out the treats over several days to avoid stomach aches.  Then of course the best thing may be to donate all the candy and get the kids to enjoy some healthy snacks.  Good luck on the healthy stuff. 

Seriously, have a great holiday and try not to over do the candy.

With kids in the car screaming and mom texting whoever, the distractions of driving are making our roads even more unsafe then they once were.  Don’t get me wrong, I love technology and like being able to stay in touch as much as I can.  But, especially when shuttling kids around town, I would hope we could all put our toys away and pay as much attention to driving as safely as we can.  It is bad enough that we take risks with our own lives, but we should be more careful with children around. 

The law may not have banned every distraction and it can’t.  But it should be a wake-up call to pay more attention to what we are doing.  It is sad that so many people will watch what they eat and get plenty of exercise in hopes of living a longer and healthier life.  They then get in a car and and forget the number of lives that have been ruined or shortened in a crash. 

This is not another public service announcement, just a concerned parent reading about to many accidents that could have been prevented.