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

I am against the banning of trick-or-treating on obese children for several reasons. Ineffective. If a child does not receive candy from one house, there are lots of other houses that will provide candy on Halloween night. What difference is one mini-sized Snickers or a bag of Skittles?"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 psychologyThis quote was pulled from http://www.cbsnews.com.... She provided an excellent point to why obese children should be restricted from trick-or-treating. Emotional consequences. Obese children are just like any other child, with just a few extra pounds. When they see a skinny kid receiving candy on Halloween, and they do not receive candy, then it can have a huge emotional impact on them. An emotional impact that would not only humiliate them but also make them feel secluded, different. Such a memory could, and very likely would, still be remembered later on in the teen years - when self-consciousness is high. If obese or even overweight children are banned from trick-or-treating, than they would feel even worse about themselves later on, knowing that others think they are large. None of your business. Parents know their children are obese. They don't need some outside force, such as a neighbor or another parent, telling them that their child is obese. Quite frankly, it is no business of a neighbor to tell a child or his/her parents that they are obese. Alternatives. Instead of handing out candy to fit kids and not giving it out to larger kids, neighbors could instead benefit everybody as a whole and give out, say, an apple. That way the obese child would not feel secluded and could benefit, like everybody else, from the healthiness of an apple. Unpopular method of reducing obesity. Despite being an ineffective way of reducing obesity, this practice of handing out "fat letters" is very unpopular.According to a CBS article, http://www.cbsnews.com..., "Some California and Massachusetts schools have also been accused of sending "fat letters" home with students. These notes include scores of a child's mass index (BMI), a height-to-weight ratio that is used by medical professionals to designate if a person is underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese. Other letters directly address if a child is overweight and obese, and include recommendations on how to help the child lose weight. The practice has been discontinued in Mass. because of fears that the letters may cause self-esteem and bullying issues."Halloween is meant to be fun, not to be something that causes someone to hate their body and despise who they are. If they are obese, and know the consequences of eating candy, then they should make the decision for themselves. Otherwise, it is not in the hands of a neighbor to decide whether they are fit-enough to consume candy.