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Ideas to Keep Easter Candy Free for Kids

in The Too Busy to Diet Blog on March 22, 2016

Easter has the second highest candy sales after Halloween. As the grandmother-dietitian, I find it difficult to give my grandchildren loads of candy for holidays. But, it is a hard path to navigate, because I do not want them searching for sweets because they never get any.

I tried to restrict my children’s sweet eating when they were toddlers. We had a rule that they could have desserts at their grandparents’ houses. But years later we found that our grown children knew every candy hideout in their grandparent’s homes. So much for that! And having a sweet eating husband does not make it any easier.

Despite my kids loving sweets as children, my daughter eats little to no sweets and restricts her son’s exposure to them. My son and daughter-in-law are a little less strict, but I still find my grandson and grand-daughter know exactly where to find their grandfather’s stash . And they also know how to manipulate to get the candy and desserts they want.

But I have found that the grandkids enjoy the non-sweet treats for the holidays. And I truly find that they seem to enjoy them more.

For Easter, I fill large plastic eggs with Nabisco fish for the little ones to search for. It is hard to find other things that are not to small for them to choke on. But for older kids, you can put erasers, chapsticks, stickers, a small amount of jelly beans, sugar-free gum, small figures, legos, or marchbox cars.

As hard as you try to make the holidays as healthy as you can, it is important to remember that the most important things are getting together as a family, sharing traditions, and making memories.

So to those who celebrate Easter, have a happy and healthy holiday!

Jacqueline King, MS, RDN, CDE, FADA

For Easter baskets, I put in bows, fancy socks, books, coloring books and crayons, stickers, lego sets, chalk formed like eggs, and other assorted non-food treats.

My grandson, Luke who is 18 months old gets infrequent desserts. We found out what happens when he gets an ocasional sweet reat. He wakes up in the morning shouting,”Cupcake, Cupcake, PLEASE”