This Halloween The Ma’at Family Is Taking The Healthy Halloween House Pledge

According to the CDC, kids born after the year 2000 are predicted to have a shorter lifespan than their parents. Isn’t that crazy? When I read that I knew something had to change in the way that we are are raising and educating our children about nutrition and healthy living.

I’m not a health nut by any means. In fact I’m one of those people  who gets annoyed by low fat, low calorie…candy, cookies, or ice cream for example. I’ve been known to say on many occasions “If I’m gonna have a cookie the I’m gonna do it right–give me the real thing!”

However, when I had children my “not the best” eating habits became painfully obvious and I started to make small shifts in what I prepared and exposed my children too. I started to be more intentional about having conversations with them about making good food choices. The hardest (but most important) part for me was that if I was going to talk about it, I had to be about it myself!

One of the things that I have found to work for me and my family is making small incremental changes over time. Personally, I think those are the changes that truly last. So, when I learned about the Healthy Halloween House pledge I was intrigued and inspired. We never allow our kids to eat all of the candy they get during Halloween anyway. We let them have their little bags for about a week (if that) and allow them 1 or 2 pieces a day and then magically–it disappears (in the trash). Amazingly, they’ve never even noticed. I think my children are more excited about getting their costumes and seeing how much candy they can pile up than anything else. So, I thought “Why not make our house a Healthy Halloween house this year?” Small changes in our family’s behavior like this = big time awareness and impact on my children that will serve them for a lifetime. So, I’m proud to say we went to the store and got a bunch of inexpensive non-food trick or treat alternatives like little balls, silly bandz, thumb puppets, bracelets, etc.

Healthy Halloween House is a national grassroots campaign to create a healthier world for our kids free from obesity and diet-related disease. The organization consists of all volunteers working in joyful service for healthier kids. HHH is an initiative of Leadership for a Healthier World and is not funded or sponsored by anyone.

The web site has a parents’ pledge and many healthy and non-food trick-or-treat alternatives. The pledge is:

“As a Healthy Halloween House, I pledge to provide a Trick-or-Treat alternative for kids that is not candy or junk food. I believe we can create a healthier world for our kids that strengthens our community without contributing to the epidemic of childhood obesity.”

These are some other fun giveaways for Halloween that are not edible:

Temporary tattoos

Silly Bandz

Stickers

Brightly Colored Halloween pencils

Sidewalk chalk

Toothbrushes

Money/coins

Small packs of crayons or pencils

School supplies

Play-Doh

Bubbles

Play jewelry

Super balls

Glow sticks/bracelets/necklaces

Spider rings

Many more non-food giveaways are available at Oriental Trading.

So, BLAM Fam: Would you consider making your house a Healthy Halloween House this year or is it just an insult to Halloween? Lol.