Tips for a Safe Halloween

Halloween is a wonderful time to be a parent! Decorating the house, buying costumes, and trick-or-treating can be joyful moments to share with our children and to create life long memories to treasure. At the same time, with all of the rules to create and boundaries to set, Halloween provides the perfect opportunity to flex our parenting muscles with a smile.

As parents we are obliged to decide on appropriate costumes, how much candy everyone is allowed to eat, what kind of decorations to buy, and how and when to trick or treat. For example, costume shopping can be highly over-stimulating for many children. A simple and reasonable, "No," may elicit an intense tantrum. Please remember to be firm yet fair, and that giving in to a tantrum reinforces your child’s notion that tantrums are a useful tool for achieving a desired result. In essence, tantrums lead to more tantrums.

When you make decisions about the candy to buy, whether or not your child has to cover up a great costume with a warm jacket, how old your child has to be to trick-or-treat without an adult, how late your teen can stay out on Halloween night, or any other decision to ensure your child's safety and well-being, do so with confidence. You are the parent. You know what’s best. More importantly, you have the right and the responsibility to make and enforce the rules.

I hope that you find the following suggestions helpful:

• Be selective when choosing a costume. Stay away from flammable fabrics, such as nylon and vinyl. Make sure that hems are short enough to avoid tripping.
• Consider leaving toy weapons at home. If you do let your child bring toy weapons along, make sure that they look obviously pretend.
• Make sure that you and your child have a flashlight and reflective tape on the front and back of your clothes so that you can be easily seen by oncoming traffic.
• Young children should always be accompanied by an adult
• If you do decide to allow your older child to go out without an adult, make sure that they are wearing a watch that can be read in the dark and that they have a flashlight. If children are trick-or-treating alone they should know where they may and may not go, and exactly when they are expected home. If possible, consider giving your child a cell phone to use as well.
• Encourage your child to engage in extra physical activity on the day of Halloween and the day after to burn off extra sugar.
• Eat dinner before trick-or-treating. Remember that children with full stomachs will have an easier time waiting to eat candy until it is inspected at home
• Consider cutting down on sugar and fats by handing out packets of pretzels, crackers and cheese, or non-food items, such as pencils, erasers or stickers.
• Make sure your trick-or-treaters stay outside of strange homes at all times.
• Do not allow your children to eat candy until you have had a chance to carefully inspect it at home. Once at home, discard anything that is not wrapped, and then allow your children to take only the predetermined amount of candy that you have specified in advance.

Have lots and lots of fun! Take pictures! These years go by in a blink of an eye. Enjoy your children and make some great memories to share with your grandchildren.

Elizabeth Pflaum lives with her husband and four children in Scarsdale and provides individual parent coaching to clients and their families. She offers parenting classes and workshops throughout the tri-state area, is a frequent guest parenting expert on WABC’s Eyewitness News and other television shows and writes articles about all topics relating to parenting and childhood. For more information, visit her website at: http://www.aaapparentcoach.com