If you have children at home, you're probably all too familiar with the loads of candy your child receives in the month of October. While we all know that overloading our children with sugary treats isn't the healthiest, how can we lessen the temptations, but still not deprive our children of the fun? 

While candy will undoubtedly be in the house, you may be surprised that it's not what your children reach for if there are other fun treats nearby. Try having a family night where everyone creates ghosts, goblins, or pumpkins out of healthy foods. Search the internet for hundreds of ideas! A half a banana can turn into a ghost with 2 miniature chocolate chips for the eyes and a regular chocolate chip for the mouth. A clementine can turn into a pumpkin by slicing a stick of celery for the stem. Apples become mummies by peeling strips of the skin and placing two miniature chocolate chips for the eyes. And by using the recipe below, fruit and yogurt can become candy corn without all the candy! 

Teach your kids the two P's: politeness and portion control. If they go trick-or-treating, ask them to take just one piece of candy, which is respectful to the other kids trick-or-treating and to the person who bought all the candy. When the kids are ready to devour the candy, use a pick-three approach: have each family member pick three pieces for the day and talk about why they picked that piece and what it tastes like. This helps them eat mindfully. Candy's not a "bad" thing. When not treating it as "bad" but teaching your children self-control, you're on your way to a healthier Halloween!