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"Trick or Treat!" If you've followed my column you are aware of the fact that Halloween is not my favorite event of the year.

REMEMBER: You care so remind yourself to be:

• Consistent
• Always listening
• Reasonable
• Encouraging

I have a problem with the concept of teaching a child to threaten someone with giving him/her a treat or something bad will happen. "They are just words," you say. They are words with ideas behind them. Those words are not gracious or kind or loving.

At the risk of setting off the two people left on earth who do not believe that sugar negatively effects children, children do not need to awaken the morning after Halloween to find they are now living in a candy store!

The day after Halloween is every teacher's worst nightmare. Exhausted children come to school. Many of them are on a huge sugar-down from eating so much candy the night before. Many of them are on a sugar-high because they are still eating candy! In their pockets, in their desks, in their backpacks and in their lunches are stashes of sugary items. If all the candy confiscated from children the day after Halloween were put into one room, you would have inventory for a candy store, lasting several months!

Hopefully, one of the things you like about me is that I focus on solutions to problems, not just problems themselves. Last year I suggested your children say, "Happy Halloween!" when someone opens the door of their home.

I also suggested that each parent limits a child's candy intake to five homes. At the first five homes, the child collects whatever candy is being offered. After that, the children from your family might give a homemade card that reads, "The McDaniel family wish you a very happy Halloween."

It was one of those writers' moments that can be described by not captured; I was handing out gum on Halloween. A group of little witches and gremlins turned to leave as another group of costumed children approached my door. They didn't have bags. instead they had a homemade card that said, "Happy Halloween!" on it.

I shouted, "Cool idea!" to the parents standing out on the street. "We read it in the paper, " one parent shouted. "We are going to do it next year, " another parent chimed in, "The children love to see how surprised and pleased people are to receive something from them."

"Cool!" I said, closing my door. I stood looking at the card thinking, "Someone actually did it! Totally cool!" When I printed my little story in the Register, I received email from a bunch of "someones" who all had the same positive feedback; the children loved giving their cards to families.

When we teach our children the value of giving as a part of receiving, we have made an investment in a child's heart and in a future which can be more loving.

Home > Stories > True Ghost Stories > Parenting Solutions by Sandy Spurgeon McDaniel