Too Many Valentine's Day Sweets!

We have one to two gallon ziplock bags of holiday and party candy at any given time. I keep them in a high cabinet and my son is allowed to pick two or three pieces after dinner, provided he has not lost the privilege due to poor behavior.

Over time. We usually do one or two the day of the party as a treat and then another one after dinner (dessert, right?). The next couple of days maybe one in the afternoon and one after dinner. After a few days they stop asking, and it's only if I think of it. I have a cabinet above the washing machine where I put them. I don't use that cabinet often, so sometimes I forget the treats are there. I will a couple of months later and find an old bag of some holiday treat. Oops!

We used to put them in a basket out of sight, and let them have the candy as they asked for it. Because it was out of sight they quickly forgot about it and we were always throwing away candy from the prior holiday. That worked until they were 12 & 10, at which point they figured out if they stashed it in the closet they could eat it all with no rationing from mom & dad. DS would usually gorge himself with all his candy within 2 days. He'd weed out the kinds he didn't like and give to his sister. Fine. I don't like it, but 3-5 days per year isn't huge in the grand scheme of things. DD puts hers away and then forgets about it. Usually the dogs end up finding it 3 months later and eat it all. When I tell DD to clean up the mess, she doesn't even remember that she had candy. Or so she says.

I don't generally buy candy to bring home. Since candy is treat-status here, when they get it for special occasions I don't need to police it or make it a battle. It's simply treat time and not worth a fuss.

I do end up throwing some out eventually because they simply don't eat it all and it gets old. If you don't make it a forbidden and wonderful thing to sneak, they learn to self-regulate.

My kids are 6 and 10.
They both brought home, TONS AND TONS of treats.
I do not dole it out.
I tell them how much they can eat.
They do it.
Or, I tell them, you eat it all now, then you have none left. Or you get sick eating it. They can make the decision.
Wisely.

Up high and none until after proper meals are eaten. She got to pick something when she got home because she had a "green" day at school.

I don't waste too much time worrying about my kids eating too many sweets. We never have candy in the house except on candy-associated holidays like Halloween, V-Day and Easter. Then they all come home with a stash. It has always been my rule, and the kids abide by it very well, they get 2 pieces a day. Usually one after school and one after dinner. But if they want both right after school I just remind them that means they don't get any more the rest of the day. At the rate of 2/day it s usually gone in a couple weeks, no harm done. They generally eat well, are healthy weights, and have no cavities, a little indulging around the holidays is fine with me.
I think if you put a one or two pieces per day limit and then keep the candy out of her reach and out of her sight it shouldn't create a battle. If it is out of the way you may even find that some days you both forget about it, all the better I guess.

They only really get candy like this a few times a year so I let them go for it. Of course when they were very little I got rid of most of it (they never noticed anyway) but as they've gotten older they have become pretty adept at making their precious stash last a longer amount of time :-)

Like any candy - slowly. DD knows she had to finish her lunch before she got a SMALL treat and she will potentially earn another piece after dinner. I put the rest up where she can't get them.

We let the kids have a few treats on the day of the holiday then it all gets dumped in one huge bucket.

We dole out these treats throughout the year as "caught being sweet" treats at home,after dinner treats, put in their school lunches.....or when M. needs a sugar fix....boy does M. love those chocolate treats I find after digging in the goody bucket.

I hate it. We only got little cards as kids!

So if I try to limit then they whine and carry on. I had to keep yelling while I was frantically cooking dinner NO CANDY. It was awful. They eat and get sick. I hate holidays!

I handle it the same as I do the Halloween candy. I put it in the big candy bin in the kitchen, and they get one piece a day. Between the Halloween candy, Valentine candy and Easter candy we have candy all year long.

the year in candy... halloween tons of candy.. christmas usually some candy.. valentines day more candy.. easter lots of candy.. memorial day parade more candy... seems like we always have a bag of candy left over from some holiday event.

we tried to dole it out slowly.. and the durn candy always lasted till the next holiday with more candy.. so now.. if they ask for candy i say sure.. and hoep taht the bag of candy runs out quickly.. usually they lose interest in it after a week.. all the "good stuff" is gone and they forget about the rest...

I miss the good 'ole days when kids would just exchange valentine cards!

My 4 y/o had his party at pre-k yesterday and he came home with some candy, a few pencils, a notepad and a couple other random toys ~ it was a very nice combo. We gave out small tubes of bubbles instead of candy.

Oh, and one kid gave out gold fish. And not the crackers.

I usually let the kids pick a few of their favorite chocolates/candy and then I bring the rest to work with me to give to co-workers.

Put everything in a bag and put it away.
My son forgets about it in a day or two.

Ugh, the neverending CANDY!

Immediately she goes through and we toss anything she doesn't like. Then she gets a few pieces a day. Usually I put it in a brown paper bag in the pantry. Within a week she forgets about it and I toss it. I've never had an issue doing it this way and I've done it for years! She's never once asked where the candy went, and she's now 11. I take that back, she did ask once and I told her that the candy was no good and I threw it out. She didn't question it.

If she was younger I'd do the "Candy Fairy." You leave the bag of candy out on the porch (or by the front door) and the Candy Fairy takes the bag of candy and leaves a non-candy surprise. I wish I had known about that when she was younger! I'd definitely have purchased a Barbie doll or something in exchange for the candy and left it from the Candy Fairy! It's too late now, but it's a great idea!