Obese Children Should Not Be Allowed to Trick-or-Treat

Ineffective.Although it did bring media attention, it was in a heavily negative light. It is ineffective for several reasons. Should we ban obese children from buying candy? Should we ban parents treating their obese child to a snack? My point is, quite simply, that all children and going to find outlets to candy one way or another. Blocking treats on Halloween does not make much of a difference in terms of unhealthiness. "When more information surfaces, parents are better equipped to set up healthier food habits for their children, which in turn, can be passed on to their children's children, and so forth."This is something you said. I just want to say that this isn't true - there has been heavy focus on the health effects of smoking recently, and despite a small decrease, a large amount people still smoke. After trillions of dollars on the "War Against Drugs" people continue to do drugs. "Information" does not create change in itself. Emotional consequences. "Have your own little Halloween party at home sans candy, or plan some other family activity instead of trick-or-treating with your obese child. The child need not know why they are not trick or treating, so in what way must it cause emotional harm?"This is no solution. We live in a society that glorifies holidays. Children are going to know about Trick-or-Treating. There is no avoiding it or acting as though it doesn't exist. And kids are naturally inquisitive: they are going to ask why they cannot go out and trick-or-treat. "That's not something that someone can judge -- the health of someone -- just by looking at them. I think that's the main thing. Even if a child is overweight, they might be very healthy because of what they eat and how they exercise. It's ineffective anyway because it's not likely to help the kid." - Dr. Katie Gordon, North Dakota State University assistant professor of clinical psychologyI want to pull this back up. It points out that not every obese child is unhealthy - and that not every skinny kid is healthy. Simply looking at a child and determining whether they get candy or not is a failure of a system. None of Your Business. "And while you may be content with spending your hard earned money to allow a fat kid to eat a Snickers, I, and many other citizens are not." I hope you do realize that giving anyone - fat or skinny - something such as Snickers is unhealthy. If you were that concerned with "the village" you simply would not give out candy on Halloween. If you were concerned with the condition of everybody - whether obese, average, or underweight - you would not hand out candy to anybody because, I'm not denying, it is unhealthy. Alternatives. "Unfortunately, we do not live in a society that gives out healthy snacks at this time of year, and, until we are, a night of frolic and fun is (from both a micro and macro level) not worth exacerbating their poor health, draining the resources of society, and further contributing to the "fat" epidemic that's plagued North America for decades."Trick-or-Treating is not contributing to the "epidemic" nearly as much as TV and video games are. Let me pose a question: which is healthier? A child who eats candy and then goes and jogs, or a child who eats candy and then watches TV or plays video games? Banning Trick-or-Treating is not getting to the source of this obesity problem. The problem is hidden deeper - in video games, TV, and other sorts of media. If you wanted to help with childhood obesity, you would ban television and video games, not trick-or-treating. Because a child can go and "run off" the candy, but he/she cannot if they decide to play video games or watch television afterwards. Unpopular. The reason slavery, segregation, interracial marriage, and women's rights were changed was because of the fact that they were unfair and immoral. I'd think that not allowing a child to trick-or-treat on the basis of weight is not fair. That is why it is met with such unpopularity. Let me sum up my stance to voters: I am against the banning of Trick-or-Treating for obese kids on the basis that it can cause emotional harm, that it is unfair, that there are alternatives (handing out fruit to everyone regardless of weight), and that the idea is ineffective. Children will be able to get candy no matter what. Why ban it only on Halloween?Children turn into teens, and can remember things quite well. How would this memory affect the body image of someone?Obese kids can be healthier than skinny kids. Just looking at them does not determine whether they are fit to have candy. If you were concerned with the state of the "village", you would not hand out candy to anyone, skinny or fat. Trick-or-Treating is not the contributing factor to the obesity epidemic.These are my main points; I hope the voters think ove them and decide on who's argument is more logical. May the voters decide who wins!