Many parents look forward to taking the little ones out for Trick or Treat tonight.  Me?  I panic.  It's difficult enough during Trick or Treat when I hear Sean say, "Wow! They gave me a lot of the good stuff, Dad!" I know what's coming.  Temptation. Here's the beginning of the justified criminal activity.  Like any good dad, I cautiously examine all of the candy for safety. Hmmm, those peanut M&M's and Butterfinger bars look suspicious to me.  Maybe I better check them out. But the Dum Dum pops look safe.  "Here Sean!"

After the guilt of stealing comes the parental regret of calorie consumption.  Well, Women's Day says the best offense and a good defense.  So there's no offense...ok, fewer of them.  Here's the word to the wise.  And me.   

Divide and conquer: Often, nutrition information for candy is based on more than one mini-sized bag. For example, one serving of peanut M&Ms contains 180 calories and 9 grams of fat, and one serving of Skittles contains 160 calories and 1.5 grams of fat. But, these numbers are based on TWO bags.

When you have treats, stick to one bag, even though the serving size may be two bags. Then, cut the nutrition information in half on the label to calculate how much you are consuming.

Go Minty Treat yourself. Besides the fresh-breath advantage, mint candies are usually low-calorie and may chill you out: Studies have shown that just smelling peppermint reduces anxiety and fatigue. If you are craving minty candy, we recommend York Peppermint Patties. Aside from freshening your breath, they're lower in calories and fat than most candy.

Portion Control One trick to keep from going overboard on bite size goodies: Choose hard candies, which you can't possibly polish off as quickly as a bag of sour gummy bears. We recommend Jolly Ranchers or lollipops, which take much longer to eat than other types of candy so the calories last longer. For example, Tootsie-Pop miniatures have 50 calories -- but there are three lollipops in each serving.

Another option for satisfying a sweet tooth is Jelly Belly Sport Beans, which are fortified with electrolytes and carbohydrates for energy. 

I do not see too many objections to Butterfingers, so I think we're good.