Trick for Treats

One of the Moms at the bus stop today was complaining about all the leftover candy they still have from Halloween 2 weeks ago, and how all her favorites were gone, but she only lets her kids have one a day so it will be September of 2011 before this batch is finished.

YIKES!

So I shared with her our little Halloween trick that we do every year and she raved over the idea, so I thought I'd share it with the masses.

After our children are all done trick-or-treating and it's time to call it night, hit a quick bath, spend some quality time with a toothbrush and floss and lay their sweet little matted heads into bed, we dump out all of their candy. We then go through it and put everything we don't like, have too much of, or plainly will never eat and put it back in our "trick-or-treaters bowl". We then put it outside on a chair in front of our front door, thus blocking it from little knockers and doorbell ringers, with a sign that says "Help Yourself". Inevitably by the time the hubby and I are ready to trot off to bed, the candy is gone and we have spent the rest of our Halloween night peaceably without any knocking or doorbell ringing to make our little ones think they may be missing something down below.

Happy sugar highs to all!

~Cara

Night Up

We have 6 children fairly close in age. They are all married now, some with children of their own. When they were younger and especially thru the teen years it was always a challenge to find one-on-one time. So we started nights up. Each child got an extra hour after the rest went to bed. We spent this time playing games, talking, working on projects, or just watching a favorite show on TV. We would have a special treat . It was all their choice. It gave us talking time. I think gave them a sense of being special. This is key in big families. The kids knew it was a privilage not a right. They each looked forward to their night.

-David A. RTP, NC