The Halloween Grinch

Happy Halloween (Today is Halloween Day).  A Fargo, N.D., woman  who appeared for a radio interview disguised to avoid cameras says she will give trick-or-treaters that she deems "moderately obese" a letter instead of candy this Halloween. Yep! Instead of the candy and other fun food treats kids get from almost everyone else, this woman is costuming as the food police this year. Allegedly, her intention is to help stop obesity in kids the "I just want to send a message to the parents of kids that are really overweight. ... I think it's just really  irresponsible of parents to send them out looking for free candy just 'cause all the other kids are doing it," the woman said in a morning radio interview . I wonder how she is able to tell about a child's weight and health simply by glancing at their costumed presence.

The letter says that, "You child is, in my opinion, moderately obese and should not be consuming sugar and treats to the extent of some children this Halloween season." It continues: "My hope is that you will step up as a parent and ration candy this Halloween and not allow your child to continue these unhealthy eating habits." Wow! A stranger judging weight of  some one s else 's kids,  then determining some are too fat, and finally insulting the kids and their parents with a warning letter on Halloween Night.  She sure knows how to spread good cheer on Halloween. Well, she may give those fat ones a letter, but I am pretty sure some of those heavies will give something back to her also- an egg or two splattered against her front door in protest for the insult she hurled at them.

I think that the letter is far more emotionally damaging than too many candy bars. It's just the kind of thing that kids who are overweight don't need to read from a stranger on Halloween night.  Even if a kid is overweight, he or she might be healthy. They might be too heavy, not because of a bad diet, but because of bad genetics. It's not nice for self righteous adults to label kids that way. It's ineffective anyway because it's not likely to help the kid.

There are a few who think the woman is doing a public service with her letter.  Eating disorders are a problem, and obesity in the last decade has taken over smoking as the leading health problem Americans face today. Those think that giving candy to an obese child is like giving a cigarette to a person with emphysema, like giving a drink to an alcoholic. It is giving heroin to a drug addict, they declare. Haha  I don't thnk so. A Milky Way candy bar isn't heroin.

Others  think the woman is crazy, and should simply not answer her door on Halloween, or that she should hand out non food treats instead. I think, if she is really worried abotu what the nation's kids eat, it would be better to forget the letter and instead give the little ghosts and gobblins healthy snacks.  For any kid who does get the letter it will more than likely be read by the kid first and then destroyed the the humiliated kid, never reaching mom and dad. Too, the embarrassment of receiving a "you're too fat for candy" letter on Halloween night in front of the child's peers has to be devastating to the fatty.  If the children of that neighborhood do not respond to this with an egging of the Halloween Food Police Lady I weep for the future of our country (and I might volunteer to egg her house myself next Halloween).