How to Trick-Or-Treat Safely this Halloween

Halloween is without fail one of the most exciting nights of the year for young children. This is a time for your kids to dress-up as their favorite character, spend time with friends, share treats and laughs, and of course eat delicious candy! That being said, it’s crucial that above all else, we remember to keep safety as a priority this Friday! Here are a few a quick tips for how to stay safe this Halloween.

HOST A PEP-TALK

Hosting a quick pep talk with the kids before trick-or-treating is a simple yet tried-and-true way of creating safe boundaries throughout the evening. Inform your kids that before you leave the house, you’re going to have a ten-minute chat to go over the Halloween rules. I’d recommend doing this today or tomorrow, a day or so before the Halloween activities begin. Make sure you go over expectations for behavior and candy-intake in advance, and establish that the kids know what these rules are by asking them to repeat them back to you while making eye contact.

STAY VISIBLE

Packing a miniature flashlight in your child’s trick-or-treat bin is a great idea, in the event that they need it in an emergency. Purchasing reflective tape and putting little pieces on your children’s shoes and costumes is very useful in the dark as well. Or get creative! Are there glow-in-the-dark shoelaces at your local craft store? Beads? Stickers? A little visibility can go a long way!

IMPLEMENT THE BUDDY SYSTEM

Utilizing the buddy system is one of the most effective and powerful systems you can use on Halloween. Trust me, the buddy system is your friend! This will of course depend on the ages of your kids and on how many other kids/families you’ll be with on Friday. Generally speaking, a good rule is to make sure that each child pairs up with another child. Inform each pair of buddies that they must attempt to keep track of where their buddy is at all times. This will be especially helpful when the kids approach a house when there is a large crowd of kids out front – each pair of buddies should stick together when navigating such crowds and before coming back to the street/parents etc.

MONITOR CANDY

Okay, okay, I know…it’s Halloween! Aka National Sugar Intake Day. While I know it might seem tempting to let your kids go wild, monitoring his or her candy intake is going to really help you out on Friday night. I do not recommend letting your motto be “have as much candy as you want.” Why? Because they’re going to crash and burn before the night is half way over. Regardless of what your family’s rules are, I’d say you should set boundaries with your spouse + nanny before going out, inform your kids of how much candy they are allowed to have on Halloween night, and save the rest for trading and nibbling for the next week…or two…or five!

Some of these suggestions might seem obvious, yet I think it’s always a nice idea to have a friendly refresher once in a while. Even the safest neighborhoods have accidents and mishaps here and there…you never know who’s out there at night so you just want make to sure to go that extra mile to establish safety boundaries with your kids before the Halloween festivities commence. Wishing you a spook-tacular evening…have a blast on Friday and Happy Halloween to you and your family! Stay safe!

We want to know! How do you celebrate Halloween? What are you some of your safety tips that your family recommends? Tell us your Halloween activities, tips and tricks in the comments section below or on our Facebook and Twitter pages: @TheNannyDoctor – we’ll be sure to re-post our favorites!