The Treat Trade

This was our fourth Halloween dealing with a gluten free diet. In the past, we've done the "treat trade" with Alice. After she gets done trick or treating, we sort through her candy and separate out the things she can't eat. Then we work some sort of trade with her. Usually we let her pick a few pieces from her "okay" pile to keep and add the rest to the gluten pile to trade in. She swaps us her big pile 'o loot for something - money, a book, etc.

Its a system that has worked really well for us. We fully intended to implement it this year.

Last night I sorted her candy when we got home from trick or treating. On the gluten free side was a HUGE pile of candy. On the gluten side there were 5 mini kit kats, 6 whoppers, and a candy bracelet that was made in China. (Don't know if it contains gluten or not. In any case, I have a strong suspicion that its not really food...) That was IT! I looked at Alice, who was broadly beaming at me. "Some people didn't let me pick, so I had to take the kitkats and whoppers," she explained.

It is hard to express how PROUD this makes me. It's not about the candy. This is bigger. Alice is taking responsibility for her diet. She *knows* what she can and cannot eat and makes choices accordingly whether its picking Halloween candy or politely declining to eat something she's not sure about. I think this is pretty remarkable for a six year old.

So, I don't know if we'll do the treat trade this year. A side benefit has been limiting the number of sugar highs in the house.... We'll have to think about it.