So here it is Halloween. When I was a kid it meant trick-or-treating and stuffing myself silly on candy. It’s going to mean something a little different for my sons. I was on the fence about whether to take Nate and Eric trick-or-treating—then thought, I’ll take Nate but leave Eric home, Eric’s too young anyway and it wouldn’t be good to get him into the custom of trick-or-treats when he’s going to have to be limited in the amount of candy he eats as he grows up. In the end, I didn’t take Nate either—I developed a nasty headache on the way home and we spent the evening watching a movie instead. There’s time enough to figure out how to deal with Halloween next year.
Yes Elizabeth you have to figure out what to do for next years to come, all your children should equally have fun, but how to exchange Rric’s treat with sugar free ones. I have this problem with the children I treat, their siblings eat what they like, but they are not, so they feel that their parents discriminate between them.
When I was young my parents let me dress up and trick or treat. When I came home my father (who was a teacher) would pay me for my candy (a nickel per chocolate bar up to a dime…it was a while ago) and he would give the candy to his students after Halloween if they behaved. I was allowed to pick out one piece of chocolate to eat (I made those things last a week sometimes). It was incentive for me not to “give up” on Halloween and his students got the candy. When I was a little older and trick or treated with friends we would go back to a house and trade off on candy…I got the pennies and raisins, they got my stuff. It worked out.
THANKS for all the advice–especially to Lee Ann whose post makes terrific sense. With my boys being so young it’s not really an issue (Nate didn’t even realize that Halloween existed or that he was missing it) but probably starting next year, when Nate’s old enough to understand about trick-or-treating, it’s going to come to the forefront. I’ve always exercised a fair bit of control over the kids’ candy intake (my stepchildren are teens and we doled their goodies out a little at a time, and certainly intend to keep that up with the boys) so it’s clear that’s just going to need to continue, but with the twist of tracking exactly what they eat.
No problem! There are just so many things about diabetes that can make life seem abnormal, it’s important to find ways to make it as normal as possible - and it is possible!
Sorry, this has happened to your family, but you’ll get lots of support here, and the day will come when you can return the favor to a parent with a newly diagnosed kid 
There are worse things. During the week I spent on the children’s ward, I met a kid with leukemia and another with cystic fibrosis. If I have to have a child with a chronic illness, I’ll take diabetes any day–at least there’s something you can DO about it (unlike CF) and the treatment is relatively benign (unlike leukemia).