Halloween is a ‘candy’ holiday, but with today’s battle against childhood obesity in mind a health and wellness specialist at Kosair children’s hospital says parents need to exert some control over the ‘treats’ when the trick or treating is done. Richard farmer has more on the story. *audio* The latest surveys show one in five kindergarteners are overweight or obese. so when the trick or treating is done Kosair children’s hospital health and wellness manager Jenita Lyons says parents need to control how much and when the treats are consumed.

• (you can switch out some of the candy for a book or a new tool. you could donate part of it to a charitable organization.)

Lyons says don’t let the children eat all the candy in a night or even a week. And she says Halloween is a good time to talk about the relationship between ‘candy in’ and ‘energy out’, suggesting activities to burn the calories eaten. if you’re giving out treats things like suckers and hard candy that take longer to eat or dark chocolate are better alternatives, along with non-candy items like pretzels, stickers or pencils. This is Richard farmer.