A few years ago Sarah Jedd, a communications professor at the University of Wisconsin, wrote a blog post explaining why she allows her kids unfettered access to their Halloween candy.
She lets them gorge on it, with no restrictions nor limitations.
She believes that by doing this, her kids actually end up consuming less Halloween candy than others, because they will go hard for a couple of days, and then tire of it.
Jedd said per The Post, “This has always been our method. I feel like kids are naturally intuitive eaters, so they will figure out what is good for them.”
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She might be in the minority, but there is a small faction of parents who believe this approach emphasizes “autonomy for children in both parenting philosophies and educational approaches.”
Carol Danaher, a registered dietician nutritionist and faculty member at the Ellyn Satter Institute, says, “A parent has to trust that the kid is driven by their own needs and will.”
Danaher added that Halloween is “a special day” meant for enjoyment, and that if kids “are restricted from sweet food or there’s guilt around them, the child will crave them more and they won’t have their natural limits.”
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