I grew up without trick-or-treating. In fact, Halloween altogether was a completely foreign concept for me. I was only ever aware of it briefly for two hours, once a year in October, while attending English lessons in a small school that taught English as a foreign language to kids as an after school program, in small town Jundiaí, southern urban Brazil.
I also grew up with generally healthy habits, and my mom (who was always very healthy conscious and athletic by the way) was adamant that we had rice and beans for lunch, fruits and vegetables as snacks, and pop and ice-cream on weekends only. No cereal bars. No cereal at all. For breakfast, we had crusty buns and fresh cheese.
Fast-forward 30 years, I live in Southern Ontario, Canada, and I have two beautiful daughters, and I am no different than most parents from my generation. I want to do the right thing, I want to provide the best I can, and I have a shit load of information available to me, which at times, just clouds my judgement and intuition!
Before I had my daughters, I managed to live in Canada for almost 8 years without ever even noticing Halloween. My husband and I were happy to turn our lights off, and be quiet for the night with the excuse that all those rowdy kids would stress out our dog way too much. It worked for me, since it really wasn't a part of my culture while growing up and so I didn't miss it at all.
Being an immigrant has given me an incredible opportunity to look at life around me with a wider perspective. I think immigrants, well travelled people, and people who speak different languages usually have a sense that things can be done at least in two different ways. These possibilities come from having either a valid different set of experiences from far away, or simply a different language which shapes the same experience in two different ways, with two different accents.
The fact however is that my daughters are not immigrants. They are Canadian, and they live in Southern Ontario, where all the other little kids will be trick or treating in October. I certainly don't want to rob them from that experience just because it's not my experience. It is definitely a fun time of the year, and I think wearing costumes once every so often is something that cannot be missed (in Brazil we have Carnival). But I am fervently against the sugar load to which we give our children permission for, even if only once a year.
You see, it goes against every thing I believe as a parent. And my husband is no different - and he is Canadian, born and bred. We've been trying to think of ways to conciliate this fun time of the year, while still being truthful to the values of health and nutrition we try to instil in our children. I mean - don't get me wrong - my children do go to birthday parties and they don't take their own bag of carrots along. They eat cake, have popcorn, and all. But these are usually two hours of our weekends, and they end at the cake slice (which I usually cut in half, and quietly remove all the icing from). We don't bring home bags of countless empty calories and food dyes that will last for one or two weeks even!
With Halloween just around the corner, I decided I could try something different. I could try to find like-minded parents (and I have seen enough at the playgrounds to know they are out there) and try to shape this experience in a way that I believe could still be fun, but not such a detriment to my children's health, as I firmly believe it is.
I called some moms, and we decided to do a little day party here at my house, with bananas that look like ghosts, mandarin oranges that look like pumpkins, and bat shaped cheese. That, and tons of activities that are fun - dancing, stories, crafts... However, the evening part is still coming and I know my neighbourhood is going to have tons of little kids knocking at 7 PM for what they believe Halloween is all about: trick-or-treating candy.
But should it be? Has it always been so?
I decided to do a little digging in a holiday that to me is still fascinating and foreign, but that is also very contradictory (wasn't it related to farming tradition and the last harvest in its origin? How is it that we arrived at Smarties and KitKat?) So I decided to find out when the candy culture began, because I had a hunch it hadn't always been this way, seeing that corn syrup and bright neon looking candies are such a modern invention. And I was right.
So - here's the thing. I know there are many more people like me out there. Concerned parents who dread the sugar rush, educators and doctors who know this one day a year fundamentally betrays the work they do during the other 364 days regarding health and nutrition, and in general, anyone who doesn't want to deal with children when they go through the depressing sugar low after the big day.
This why this blog came to be. When I was talking to a neighbour of mine, she mentioned she'd give out stickers and pencils, and I thought it was a great idea, but I thought if she did it by herself, she might be pegged in the neighbourhood. I even asked her "aren't you afraid of having your door egged?". However, as I digested the idea a little longer, I thought - why don't I just join her then? And what if others joined in? Perhaps we can change the face of things. Maybe not for everyone. But at least for those who want to.
Check out the other tabs. You will find the history behind the candy tradition, ideas for healthy, not-sexy costumes (especially for little girls), healthy snacks, non-candy treats, and most importantly, a sticker you can print out and identify your house as a "Fun Trick, Healthy Treating" home. This way, you can be join in the fun guilt-free with your littles ones, and others can choose to knock at your door or not.
Have fun, and stay healthy everyone!
