Trick or Treat!

What kid doesn't love going trick-or-treating on Halloween?

I remember my favorite part being the part where I got to come home, sit in front of the TV to watch spooky movies, in my dismantled costume, while I "Sorted out" my candy - I would eat till I was sick, and then squirrel away my treats to snack on till December (or later depending on the haul).

We trick-or-treated in the days where needles in candy wasn't a worry - and home made treats were in abundance. Mom never monitored our treats, she figured that if we earned it we could eat it.

I know a lot of dentists and doctors have a "buy back" program now so as to not contribute to both cavities and childhood obesity, and I guess these are both good things. But I have to say one of my co-workers runs a ruse with his kids every year that causes me to chastise him.

He allows his kids to eat as much as they want on halloween night, and then they leave what they don't eat on the front porch for the "Great Pumpkin" which comes by and takes their candy and then leaves them books or toys. I just have a feeling in the pit of my stomach that when his kids who are now getting to the age of figuring parenting tricks like this out - that they're going to go NUTS when they realize Dad and Mom have been tricking them out of their candy all along!

What do you do for your Kids? Do you allow them to eat whatever they want? Do you take it into a "Buy Back" or do you trick your kids into handing over the stash?

I don't know what's best, and I'm not a parenting expert by any stretch of the imagination, because well, I don't even have kids!  I just want to know what the route is now days - the "Great Pumpkin" thing just seems dishonest to me, but again, so is Santa and the Easter bunny... I don't know... Just food for thought!