Candy

 November 1st.

As a mother of two six year old boys guess what's on my mind this morning.
Sugar.
We have two enormous trick or treat bags full of candy. Plus what they came home from school with on Friday. And what my mother brought with her yesterday before trick or treating.
 Sugar.
 What to do about sugar.
I grew up in a household where candy was out in dishes around the house. I don't remember ever asking if I could have any. It was there  for the taking. As I became an adult I began to believe that my eating habits were largely responsible for some of my emotional/mental fragility/instability. The whole anti-sugar movement was in full swing. Sugar Blues. And  I had a very definite dependence on caffeine by the age of 17. It wasn't a weight issue with me. It was a crazy issue. And in my adult years since I have tried to be aware of this as a nutrition issue as well. Health. Matters.
Of course I also don't remember ever eating so mush candy that I threw up. Or hiding chocolate chips under the couch in the shag carpet so I could eat them without my mom knowing.  My husband was raised around watchful, maybe limited, sugar use and has these memories.
 So. as a parent I have a dilemma. To withhold and create a compulsive desire, or to allow and risk bad eating habits, poor health, sugar spikes and crazy/wild behavior. blah blah blah.
It has been suggested to me that some of the behavior problems with kids could be their diet.
I also have read about some studies that basically show that sugar does not make kids hyper. That it is all in our perception.
I know people from both routes. They each seem as fine as the other. Basically. Sometimes it's hard to tell for sure.
So I try for the in between route. Some is ok. But not all the time. And not a ton.
 Every day I struggle to find the line between ok and not ok. Is it ok to have a piece of candy.? What about two? And if yesterday then why not today? Treats are a sometimes thing. But when? And why?
And then comes a holiday. There are so many sweets involved with all our holidays, it feels like deprivation to say no. Even to limit seems to be scroogelike.
And then there's Halloween . A holiday built around candy.
They were up much past their bedtime last night. Allowed to eat some of their haul. (which is fairly sizable bw). And now hey have a day off of school (nice coincidence, huh?) and I will be facing down the question; "mom. can I have my candy?"
Well, yeah. How much? When?
 And then; what about the left overs.
 They count up what they have. They organize and memorize every piece.
We tried putting it all together in one big bucket. Family candy. Bickering and squabbling quickly tore that down. How to decide what is "fair"? So each one knows what he has, and expects it to be there until he has eaten it himself. 
And, of course this leads to the fact that we have candy here from their birthday last January. There is more there than can be eaten at a reasonable pace in a reasonable length of time. We always have candy. Holidays are too close together and provide too much to ever get rid of it. 
Unless we just junk it.
Today i will probably toss whatever was here before yesterday.
Which isn't saying much.
Being a parent has taken all the joy out of candy.