Imagine this scene:
Little kid sweet voice, expectant, happy: Trick or treat!
Evil mother of kid: Sorry you can’t have that buddy, or that, or… well, maybe at the next house!
This is the life of a child with life threatening food allergies at Halloween. Once our parents worried about razor blades in apples, now I worry about Snickers.
Trick or treating is not a necessity for little ones. But lets face it, it is fun! And us mamas are inundated with the catalogs of the cutest little costumes you ever did see, and we imagine which one will look the best on our little one.
Trick or treating with food allergies however, is another thing all together. Unless you keep your kid locked up, he’s gonna learn about trick or treating. And what is he going to learn about trick or treating? Free candy!!!
The problem – some candy could kill him.
Isaiah went trick or treating for the first time when he was 6. Before that, I told a little white lie. Fairly certain he would have a meltdown if I told him he couldn’t have a snickers, or Reeese’s, or Milky Way, or Hershey’s minatures or Three Musketeers or or or or… I choose the lesser of two evils, I told him that it was the rule that someone had to stay at home and hand out candy. His poppy worked, so we had to hand out candy. Man was I surprised, It worked!
We of course were the lame house with the Nerds, because I was such a stickler then that only the safest of safe candy would be allowed.
He happily greeted all of the trick or treaters with a yo ho ho! Unless of course they wore scary costumes, then I had to answer the door and he hid.
By the time he was 6 I decided he was ready to handle trick or treating. I told him what candy was OK, he did some digging through some bowls at some houses and then pronounced “I can’t have anything here” and stalked off. I stood back to apologize to the grown-up and then tried to explain to the kid, that not everyone understood about nut allergies.
Last year was even better, when he couldn’t have something and the trick or treatee felt bad, he said “That’s OK! I have lots of candy already!” I suspect most of our neighbors will be ready for him this year. I’ve been told he’s pretty unforgettable.
One Halloween I told a little white lie to keep the peace, and I’d do it all over again if I had to.
This has been a Finish the Sentence Friday post. The sentence was: One Halloween I…
FTSF is hosted by the lovely ladies at
Janine Huldie – Confessions of a Mommyaholic
Kate Hall – Can I Get Another Bottle of Whine
Kristi Campbell – Finding Ninee
Stephanie Sprenger – Mommy, For Real
