For the Socially Conscious Parent, Halloween Can Be Terrifying

Published on Monday, October 31, 2011, by Joyce Slaton / Edit Post

What's an ethical parent to do? Sure makes it a lot less fun to hand a beaming child in full Jasmine costume a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup on Halloween when you can picture children in Cote d’Ivoire processing the cacao beans. Of course, that's why the Raise the Bar activists chose Halloween, known in my household as Chocolate Christmas, to make a stink over Hershey's (alleged) failure to reform its child-labor practices. But once you've seen a picture of a sad-eyed kid harvesting cacao, you can't unsee it, and buying a bag of Hershey's Miniatures to give out at the door sort of loses its appeal.

Another dark cloud over the holiday: vegetable oil in chocolate instead of cocoa butter! Tons of plastic and paper trash clogging landfills! The Warriors is being remade and set in the present and made more realistic! (Sorry, that last one has nothing to do with Halloween but I'm still very upset about it. No Baseball Furies? What?)

So how to still experience the fun of stuffing your kids full of sugary crap in the dead of night without inadvertently supporting companies you suspect of enslaving little children with tiny hands and big eyes, just like your own precious offspring? First of all, there's no point in not letting kids eat whatever treats they collect, Hershey's or not. Whatever's there is already purchased: It's done, over, the money is spent. Let your kids eat and enjoy, and for God's sake don't lecture them. Let them think the world is a kind place for a while yet.

And though I love the intentions behind the Reverse Trick-or-Treating campaign (your little ones showing up on somebody's doorstep to hand them candy, what organizer Global Exchange calls "vegan-friendly, Fair Trade dark chocolate ... accompanied by a card informing recipients of poverty and child labor problems in the cocoa industry"), it's just a big downer.

So knowing that only tools hand out pennies or dental floss, and that suspicious modern children won't accept my homemade loca-organic thingies, what to keep in a bowl by the door? If your criteria, like mine, include "delicious" and "individually wrapped," no doubt you've already haunted the bulk bins at natural foods and other enlightened grocery stores, trolling for SunSpire's Earth Balls, or hard candy drops by companies like YummyEarth. Also, I happen to be very fond of the Joyva Sesame Crunch, those individually wrapped little candy bricks, though I'm not sure how many kids enjoy seedy treats at Halloween.

Moving on to the candy aisle, companies like Equal Exchange and Divine Chocolate sell mini chocs suitable for treat bags. Other than that, the choices are grim. Turn off your lights and huddle indoors, munching apples, popcorn balls, and homemade pickles?

Image source: Flickr member respres under Creative Commons
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POST A COMMENT |9 Comments

COMMENT

  • Please don't bring your liberal guilt to Halloween. I'm liberal too, but stuff like this makes us look stupid.

  • Everytime I read about reforming child labor, i get this uncomfortable image of a little kid all sad-eyed 'cause he really needed that job.

  • Beevod, that's hilarious. And I'd rather think about little kids harvesting beans than being forced into prostitution, which is often a reality in under-developed countries. Halloween candy doesn't really have the luster that it used to because many of today's kids are already fat, over-indulged whales who don't eat much better than candy bars for meals. Lunchables? Kid Cuisine? Hot Pockets?...+READ

    Beevod, that's hilarious. And I'd rather think about little kids harvesting beans than being forced into prostitution, which is often a reality in under-developed countries. Halloween candy doesn't really have the luster that it used to because many of today's kids are already fat, over-indulged whales who don't eat much better than candy bars for meals. Lunchables? Kid Cuisine? Hot Pockets? Chicken McNuggets?-COLLAPSE

  • I rarely get any trick or treaters, so this year I didn't buy any candy (skipping the whole "do I buy candy that I like so I can eat the leftovers vs. do I buy candy I don't like so I won't be tempted to eat the leftovers conundrum). Then a few kids showed up so I dug out a couple of boxes of Kashi "fruit and grain" bars (picked up cheap at Grocery Outlet) and handed them out. No one seemed too...+READ

    I rarely get any trick or treaters, so this year I didn't buy any candy (skipping the whole "do I buy candy that I like so I can eat the leftovers vs. do I buy candy I don't like so I won't be tempted to eat the leftovers conundrum). Then a few kids showed up so I dug out a couple of boxes of Kashi "fruit and grain" bars (picked up cheap at Grocery Outlet) and handed them out. No one seemed too unhappy with this option (some of these snack bars are almost candy anyway), and I felt a little better about it.-COLLAPSE

  • Oh beevod, hee! Can parents have one too?

  • I solve the problem by offering each kid a fair trade cigarette (filtered, of course).

  • The kids you won't let eat mini Milky Ways today will be the binge drinkers and McDonald's addicts of tomorrow. You have been warned, yuppie parents.

  • I buy freaking almond joy and or mounds because I consider the candy of the devil I won't eat. However as they are a name brand kids will be pumped. Its freaking halloween, its one night a year. Have fun. If you really don't want to give candy about the best things I've seen are mini play-dohs you can give. Those are freaking awesome and for the most part kids won't complain about them.

  • "Turn off your lights and huddle indoors, munching apples, popcorn balls, and homemade pickles?"

    This is sage advice for the ninnys who choose to ruin every ounce of childhood fun with their first world angst. Life is too short. Allow yourself and your children to have fun for one night. Your token protest isn't going to change global labor laws or the food industry - it's just going to piss...+READ

    "Turn off your lights and huddle indoors, munching apples, popcorn balls, and homemade pickles?"

    This is sage advice for the ninnys who choose to ruin every ounce of childhood fun with their first world angst. Life is too short. Allow yourself and your children to have fun for one night. Your token protest isn't going to change global labor laws or the food industry - it's just going to piss off your kids or your neighbor's kids.-COLLAPSE