The kids are crazy excited about Halloween. I love Halloween. It is so much fun. I think part of it is because it is one of the times where I was allowed candy ahen I was a kid. But not only that, it's just cool to get to dress up and be someone else for a day.

Yesterday, my son, almost 11, came home from school very proud that he had done very well on a math test and reached a reading goal. He has ADD and sometimes has trouble finishing work even though we've worked on it for the last 4 yrs and he is on meds. So, doing it on his own is a big deal. He asked if he could have some candy since he did so well on his test. My first instinct was " Yeah, he deserves it." Then I realized that this is exactly the kind of emotional eating I am trying to teach myself not to do.

My son is chubby. Not extremely overweight, but we are trying hard to encourage exercise and we really watch our diets. We never have candy at home. Except like now. This is how things were for me as a kid. So, I sat him down and talked about the fact that FOOD IS NOT A REWARD. It can be really yummy and fun and we enjoy it, but there are better things we can have as rewards. Together we decided he would get 30min of TV before homework. He generally does not ever watch TV during the week and especially not before homework. This made him happy and I got to stick to the, no candy until Halloween rule.

I woke up this morning and realized that rewarding him w/ TV was encouraging the couch potato behavior. I realized that I am going to have to watch this also. ACK! I have said that part of the reason I want to loose weight is for my kids. Saying it and doing it are very separate things. Teaching good behavior to them takes as much time and effort as it does for me to learn it myself. I am still proud that I recognized the problem and that we talked about emotional eating. Maybe next time, I'll suggest we play a board game.