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What child doesn’t love Halloween? The costumes, the parties and
most of all, the candy! But before you send your little ones out to
trick-or-treat, keep safety in mind.
“The streets are not as safe as they once were,” says Laura
Fitzmaurice, MD, division chief of Emergency Medicine at Children’s
Mercy Hospitals and Clinics. “But, that doesn’t mean we have to take
the fun out of trick or treating.”
Here are some suggestions to help make Halloween safe and fun
for your child:
- Consider alternatives to traditional trick-or-treating, like
hosting a party for neighborhood children, or visiting a shopping mall
that has indoor trick-or-treating.
- Send your children out early in the evening so they will be
home before it gets dark.
- Before leaving home, feed the children a favorite meal. They’ll
be less tempted to eat the treats they collect.
- Give each child a small snack of candy to eat while they’re
out.
- Give each child a small pocket flashlight.
- Give each child a whistle in case they get separated from the
group.
- Adults should accompany pre-school and early-elementary aged
trick- or-treaters at all times, but not in a car. Parents who watch
their children from a moving car do not always pay close attention to
the road.
- Older children who go trick-or-treating without adult
supervision should stay in a group.
- When you are not with your children, establish rules. Help him
or her plan an acceptable trick-or-treat route. Set limits on the
distances they can travel and agree on a time to return home.
- Remind children what to do if approached by a stranger: Scream
to draw attention and then find an adult to help them.
- Remind children of basic street safety: Look both ways before
crossing the street; don’t dart out between parked cars; cross only at
designated crosswalks; obey traffic signals.
- Insist that children visit only homes of people they
know.
- Children should eat no treats until they get home.
- Children should only go to houses with the porch light on. This
is a sign to welcome trick-or-treaters.
- Inspect all treats. Throw out anything without wrappers,
homemade items (unless you know the source), anything not in its
original wrapper and anything that might have been tampered with.
- Limit post-outing consumption of candy: Too much too fast can
cause an upset stomach.
- Consider rationing the candy over a period of days and include
tooth brushing in the consumption deal.
- Also, have a clear pathway to your door and turn on a porch
light at dusk: trick-or-treaters start early.
“Heeding these precautions can help make this a safe and fun
Halloween,” Dr. Fitzmaurice says
