Halloween Candy, Childhood Obesity & Trick-or-treating

I can't wait to see tomorrow's headlines:
"Halloween Scrooge's House Covered in Eggs and Toilet Paper"

Good Lord, like kids haven't been shoveling candy on Halloween for ages long before obesity was an 'epidemic'. Clearly, Halloween candy is not O. of the reasons why kids weigh more than they used to.

:(

Horrible horrible horrible.

Halloween is second only to Christmas for children. Let them be kids.

It is not the job of other "villagers" to decide if my child has a weight problem or not. It is especially not the job of the village idiot.
If you don't want to hand out candy, then don't. But don't hand out snarky notes in its place.
Just opt yourself out.

It's a dumb thing to do. Childhood obesity isn't caused by O. night of over indulging in candy. Plus, who asked this woman to be the fat police? She's purposefully shaming children when their obesity is probably their parents' fault.

Updated

It's a dumb thing to do. Childhood obesity isn't caused by O. night of over indulging in candy. Plus, who asked this woman to be the fat police? She's purposefully shaming children when their obesity is probably their parents' fault.

It's mean spirited, plain & simple.
It's not her call.
That would be like me putting a note in her mailbox saying she is stupid.
Do I think as a nation we can be gluttoness & wasteful? Probably yes.
This is O. time a year that no kid should have to worry about skipping fun because somebody else has decided he/she is overweight.

What ticks me off about it isn't that she is doing it, it's that she is only doing it to some. Who made her judge and jury?

Who is to say that that child she feels is obese didn't just lose 10 lbs, or is fighting anorexia?

When I see overweight people (I'm overweight btw...) eating certain desserts I think "Do they really need that?". It's human nature, but then I think I don't know them. That ice cream could be their reward for losing 20 lbs....

I think it's the equivalent of the TSA checking my socks.

Childhood obesity has nothing to do with halloween. *sigh*

She's either misinformed, ignorant or mean.

Wait, only the kids 'she' finds obese? That is seriously messed up.

Okay, read it, two words, attention seeker!

Wow. I hope it's a joke bc that's O. of the meanest things I've ever heard otherwise. I'm admitedly critical of really overweight people and especially when I see them ordering a cheeseburger and fries but for O., they're adults. If I see parents feeding their overweight kids that, I"m again critical but of the parents, not the kids. Kids are the innocent victims in my opinion and I'd never want to shame a kid. And finally, it's friggin' Halloween! Even I don't begrudge anyone some treats on Halloween!

It's horrible.
The persons reasoning was that "it takes a village to raise a child". It seems that a better way to "help" would be to do it with gentleness and kindness, which goes a lot further than a mean note.
Let's be honest, candy is not good for ANYONE. It is not unhealthy for only overweight persons. This lady could have simply opted out from passing out Halloween candy and turned her light off that day, or posted a note on the porch that said "no candy", or she could participate in the fun of Halloween in a healthier way by passing out stickers, toys or a healthier treat like pretzels.
What's next? Asking for dental records? If the child has had any recent cavities then they are turned away with a mean note?
Edited to add: I have several friends whose children appear to have a weight problem which has NOTHING to do with their eating habits and everything to do with a health issue. O. child is on a steroid for his health issue and his weight goes up a lot when he is on this treatment. To just assume that someone's weight is a result of overeating is faulty.

I read the story. This "Miss Hilly" character will hopefully get her house egged!

I think a healthier treat would be more appropriate.

I wholly disagree with the woman's bullsh*t tactic. Helpful? Hand out mini boxes of raisins, or opt for Halloween-themed pencils, cheap toys or stickers. We have a couple of kids in the neighborhood who can't do candy (due to nut allergies) so we just make sure to have a handful of fruit leather-type snacks on hand for them, as well as some stickers. Easy fix.

Maybe she doesn't read about parents going all "mama bear" on strangers or teachers?

If she doesn't want to hand out candy she should just shut her light off and not give out candy, instead of ruining some child's night.

Geez - what a b!tch. Does she think parents don't already know their kids have a weight issue? I hope people egg her house.

If I were the mom of a kid who received a note - I'd go verbally INSANE on that woman. How dare she?

"Bully Halloween Mom" will be her new neighborhood identity.

There will be retaliation, and hopefully in the form of revenge, I imagine from some.

Last year I was on an anti-sugar kick and wanted to support Fair Trade Cocoa, but couldn't find any, so I opted for Top Ramen noodles and packets of Apple Cider. It was a huge hit with all the kids. There were shouts of enthusiasm for the noodles.

I always try to put my son's face in the place of a child who has been hurt, sad or lonely. I can imagine the kid who opens that paper will never view Halloween the same, ever again.

She must be a very unhappy person, and I am going to guess after this, pretty lonely too.

I've heard this was just a hoax made up by a radio station in Fargo because they can't even locate the woman. Regardless, I think just offering a healthier and/or non food option would be the best way to go. Why ruin a child's halloween fun?

If it is true (O. report thought it might be a radio station prank), she needs to turn off her light and find something else to do tonight other than harass children. It is not her call to target kids and not her job to educate others this way. If she really wants to enlighten the community, there are many other ways she can do so. IMO, this is just a self-important, superficial person who probably has insecurities she is masking with this behavior.

I feel badly for anybody named Cheryl in that area of ND because I suspect her home will the the target of some "tricks".

I find it very rude, not all kids are obese or overweight because of eating habits. There are still some kids who are just heavier then others because of genetics.

I can remember eating tons of candy on Halloween as a kid (hiding it from my mom) and still being under weight. If she is that concerned then she should hand out healthier treats, I am sure most parents would prefer them anyway.

does she also plan on passing out "notes" that point out the children that are racist, or perhaps precancerous, or perhaps carrying weapons, or perhaps homophobic, or perhaps ignorant of anyone else's history or life experience that she doesn't quite, in her limited and clearly defined paradigm, understand?

Bigotry and ignorance speak for themselves. Perhaps I can walk a mile in her shoes and get a sense of what drives such hatred and disdain for that which she holds herself above. SHAME ON HER. S.

I don't think it's her job to police other people. Frankly, you can be thin and still be out of shape and in poor health. My son has always been bigger than most kids in his class.. He is also O. of the very few who don't drink soda, fruit juice, loves water, eats ALL veggies and fruit... loves fish... whereas many of his classmates, bring Capri Sun, chips and junk in their lunch.. yet they are thinner.. however, not necessarily healthier..
I can only imagine what the children of that mother must go through....

It is Gods job to judge, not hers.

The only people that should talk to someone about obesitey is your doctor.

I don't know anyone who thinks this would be ok. If it bothers someone that much, then give the kids apples.

Obesity is due to many many factors.
O. night of getting candy door to door isn't going to change anything.
I think she's just being a nag, cloaking it in the cause of 'for the kid's own good' and sticking her opinion in where no O. has asked for it.

Additional:
There are plenty of alternatives to handing out candy.
Some people do fruit.
Others do toothbrushes.
I worked with someone who hated dealing with small change so at the end of every day he emptied his pockets and put his change in a jar.
Come Halloween instead of candy he took his jar and gave each kid a handful of random change.
It made everyone very happy.

I haven't seen the story, but I am in my 50's and when I grew up VERY few kids were overweight...I can only think of O. or two that were and I went to a very big school.

We went out for Halloween and received and ate lots of candy.

The problem is the American culture NOT Halloween. The problem is how kids and families eat 365 days a year. Too much fast food, not enough vegetables and fruit. Too many processed high calorie empty foods and not enough exercise. I have read a number of articles that women who are overweight in pregnancy (or before getting pregnant) pass on "obesity genes" and insulin resistence to their baby and set them up for a life of weight problems.

Anyone who wants to point to Halloween candy as the problem is missing the boat.

i wish weeping anal fissures on her.
khairete
S.

Yep. It's basically "old news" - someone was talking about it last week.

Do I care? Nope. She'll get her "karma" as you like to call it.

Not her place to tell me how to feed my children unless she's paying the bill and she's not.

She could have chosen NOT to participate in Halloween and kept her light turned off. Now when her house gets TP'd or egged or some other type of retaliation - she's gonna cry "victim" - uuummm..no chick-a-dee - you brought this on yourself with your, for lack of better words, stupid note.

What about the ones that are underweight because their parents are out of work and they can't get food stamps anymore, what about the kids who can't afford to buy healthy food and eat more cheap mac and cheese than they should have to?

No O. has the right to pass judgement on others, mush less onto a bunch of little kids who're having a good time once per year for Halloween.

If she made even O. tear come out of O. child's eyes her house should be egged, her trees, TP'd, etc....she's a mean O. for sure.

Who gives her the right or the audacity to police a child's weight? She is better off just not handing out candy. That's like asking to see a child's teeth to see if he/she has cavities before you agree to give them candy on Halloween. That's way over the top and I disagree with this approach.

Disagree - that's terrible. :(

I heard this morning that the letter's a fake.

If someone were really doing this, it would be unusually cruel.

Updated

I heard this morning that the letter's a fake.

If someone were really doing this, it would be unusually cruel.

Updated

I heard this morning that the letter's a fake.

If someone were really doing this, it would be unusually cruel.

Updated

I heard this morning that the letter's a fake.

If someone were really doing this, it would be unusually cruel.

She made her house a huge targer for vandelism. I know I would be egging it and doing the whole tp thing. I would even provide my kids the eggs and a look out. I think its stupid and she should just turn off her light and not participate

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She made her house a huge targer for vandelism. I know I would be egging it and doing the whole tp thing. I would even provide my kids the eggs and a look out. I think its stupid and she should just turn off her light and not participate

Well my children did treat or treat. I never let them eat the whole bag..we donate it to a shelter or something.
Trick or treating is a blast for a kid.
Well I think parents need to be more responible in what they feed their kids..obese or thin. when you have healthy relationship with food and choose healthier options the majority of the time..you are teaching the kids healthy eating habits for life. I think people just dont want to hear what they dont want to hear. There are obese children ..more now.

I dont think candy is bad. Then they should be playing outside for at least an hour running around. Well this is like politics or religion. Its a very heated conversation topic.