I was cleaning the kitchen a few days ago and came across something huge and astounding. I knew what it was, I knew where it came from, I just couldn’t believe it existed…a full bowl of halloween candy. To see Halloween candy still uneaten over two weeks since “candy day” is something I never thought I’d see.

See, my kids inherited their father’s sweet tooth. Every Halloween since my oldest could walk on his own in his ninja costume, I’ve had to battle with the kids to control their sugar intake. I’d hide the candy. I tried to scare them with speeches about rotten teeth and diabetes. Nothing worked. The fact that my husband eats candy like he’s Willy Wonka kind of makes it impossible. I finally gave up and rationalized that letting them pig out on sugar for a few days or however long it takes to finish the spoils of Halloween can’t be too bad. This year I turned a blind eye to save myself the yelling and the chasing. I let them go nuts. Then how come they didn’t eat their candy?

I found the answer to the mystery later that day when I heard my little girl explaining to her father why he shouldn’t eat a whole bag of skittles at once,

“Grandpa said it tastes better when you spread them out.”

Bear in mind, this is coming from a girl who ate so many mini-snickers last Halloween at her aunt’s house that she almost threw up. I immediately called my dear old dad to see what in the world he incepted into his granddaughter. My dad is a former economics professor, so of course I should have expected the lecture he gave me:

“Oh, I just taught the kids about diminishing returns. The first skittle tastes great. The second and third skittles taste pretty good too. But when you get to around six or seven skittles, your tongue is saturated with sugar and you no longer can enjoy the following skittles as much as the first few. The pleasure return diminishes. So to maximize your pleasure from a bag of skittles, you should only eat a few at a time.”

Whatever you say, dad. All I care about is that now my kids are voluntarily rationing their own sugar intake. Now if only they would clean their rooms on their own…