Halloween was always a huge deal in my house growing up. Two words; Villa Court. Villa Court, in Hempstead, New York was an apartment complex for middle class families about 10 blocks from my house. That meant they were home and there were probably 100 units with about 6-8 apartments each. On Halloween, you could go to one landing, ring 4 doorbells……and wait. Sometimes they were all home, sometimes just a few. We literally would spend all night there and have two…..TWO FULL bags of goodies when we came home.
I finally threw out what I did not eat every year; just before Christmas and that is no exaggeration.
When our kids came along, Halloween meant so much more fun as a group would get together and travel from door to door. When diabetes became the new normal, it was wonderful that so many neighbors would buy stickers and toys for Kaitlyn; “…I did not know what to get for her.”
People can sure be wonderful. There was no doubt with all of the walking that she would ‘go low’ and she would choose something out of the bag. (of course juice boxes and ‘stuff needed’ were readily available ‘just in case’ as well.) We would wait a few minutes and continue on. Fun and frights continued. The picture is Kaitlyn a million years ago it seems. I love this picture because her face is just precious and diabetes is surely not a thought………on this day she is just like all the others…….AS IT SHOULD BE.
I remember many conversations from people over the years how much Halloween must be a disaster for us, having a child “who cannot eat candy”. People thought that we would deprive our child of this incredible right-of-passage. Those of us ‘in the know’ know better, don’t we?
Of course we would control the candy; some gave money in exchange, some put the candy outside for the GREAT PUMPKIN to take and exchange for a toy; but we always controlled what the kids ate and went through it making sure no razor blades or poison was included.
We all do those things.
Diabetes never stopped us on Halloween and it should not stop you either. Go and enjoy. This is a holiday for kids to enjoy and with a little knowledge and a little ‘smarts’, the only frightening thing about the day should be at your front door asking for candy, or you will be tricked.
Happy Halloween. Boo.
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One reply on “BOO! Happpy Halloween……”Oh Sorry, Your Child Cannot Have Candy; Right?””
So well put!! It drives me crazy when people say my son can’t have candy and how hard Halloween must be! Even before his diagnosis, we wouldn’t let him have a free for all eating candy. We do the same thing now by letting him have a little each day. Now we just need insulin for it.