After trick-or-treating, kitchens overflow with candy, leaving parents to navigate the post-Halloween sugar rush.
The day after Halloween, kitchen tables across America disappear under mountains of candy. Parents hover, debating their next move. Should they let their kids binge? Quietly sweep half into the trash? Summon the Switch Witch to swap the sugar for a toy?
Pediatric dietitian Diana Rice says: none of the above.
“Let them go for it!” Rice tells TODAY.com. “Halloween night should be a total free-for-all, and potentially even the following day, too.”
If kids know there’s another chance coming, she explains, they won’t feel like it’s their one opportunity and go overboard.
After that, the structure shifts. “Once the excitement has passed, I recommend three pieces of candy a day,” Rice says. “Maybe with lunch, maybe after dinner, whatever works for your family. The key is that it’s consistent and expected.”
What matters most, according to Rice, is that parents take the lead by being reliable.
“We know very well that kids want chocolate,” she says. “When adults make a good-faith effort to offer it regularly, it builds trust.”
That approach, draws from the “trust model,” a feeding framework developed by dietitian Ellyn Satter. The model outlines clear roles: parents decide what, when and where food is served, while children decide whether to eat and how much.
“It’s a mutual exchange,” Rice says. “Kids learn that sweets aren’t being taken away, and parents learn to trust that their child can handle having them.” Over time, she adds, that rhythm helps children see candy as just another food, not something to be hoarded or obsessed over.
Rice, co-author of the upcoming Food Positivity: How to Ditch Diet Culture and Talk to Kids About Food, says Halloween is the idea opportunity to show kids that candy doesn’t have to be a big deal.
“How can they learn to have a healthy relationship with candy,” she asks, “if they never get the chance to?”
