Many parents have different attitudes about Trick or Treating. I can't say what's right or wrong, only what is right for us. We trick or treat in our own neighborhood. There is about 1-2 houses per street that give out candy. It's rude to leave your porch light on between 5 and 9PM on Oct 31st, and even more rude to decorate for Halloween if you don't give out candy. Just saying.
(I will say my parents only let us Trick or Treat in our house. My dad gave out the tootsie rolls from the bathroom and thought it was hilarious. - - I don't like tootsie rolls)
But this isn't about to trick or treat or NOT to trick or treat. This is about the politics of it all, and the the taxation. There are several different types:
The Candy Communism: After Trick-or-treating is over, all the candy is dumped into a community bowl/bag/box and shared among all.
The Candy Capitalism: Kids hoard the candy they like most, trying to make savvy trades with the candy they don't like.
The Candy Democracy: The candy-rich make donations to the candy-poor. Like when there is a sick sibling who couldn't go trick-or-treating, the well children donate to the sick kid. Many people let their candy-rich kids take their candy to school to share with their friends. (I loved this as a kid because I actually had a chance to get candy I liked).
The Candy Republic: My friend says he took candy from the poor kids and gave it to the rich kids in hopes that they would create jobs. I don't think that works so well; BUT, taking all of the candy as parents and making the kids do chores to earn the candy (that already belongs to them, ha ha ha!) might be a logical option.
The Candy Anarchy: Kids get to eat all of their candy whenever they want. Usually dieting moms who want the candy-temptation gone ASAP.
The Candy Dictatorship: Parents do not freely give the children the candy. Their kids eat granola and fruit. These kids are usually healthier than their counterparts, but it seems that they are no less hyper.
The Hidden Candy Tax: Parents wait until the children are in bed, then go through and take the stuff that they like.
What do we do? A little bit of it all. It's candy anarchy/capitalism on Halloween night. We share with the kid who is too little or grounded from the fun in a nice, democratic way, then comes the hidden tax. The next day or so, it's a candy republic. Eventually it all gets dumped into a community bowl, and after a few weeks I discretely get rid of it all. Because really, if it's lasted a few weeks, no body really wants it.
mmm... chocolate!
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