2 birds, 1 stone, 2 sad boys

I'm not a fan of giving my kids candy. It's hard to avoid though. Halloween is the big one but there's also Christmas and Valentines and Easter. And then there are the birthday parties at school or the lollipops at the bank. I'm not a complete scrooge when it comes to candy, but I'd prefer that they don't eat it every day. And sometimes, I pull out their Ziploc bags that are still half-full of candy from Halloween and contemplate just throwing them away. Would they notice? Wouldn't it be better if I could say to them, "Sorry guys. We don't have any candy. How about an apple?"
Yesterday, Jem had his Valentine's party at preschool and came home with a bag of candy, stickers, tattoos and pencils. The boys were occupied for quite some time, sorting through everything and deciding what they wanted to have. I told them they could each have one piece after they finished their lunch. Then we put the candy back into the bag.
This morning, while the boys were getting dressed, Jem started talking about chocolate. I turned and asked him if he had eaten any of his candy this morning. The hesitation was enough to tell me the answer. I asked him what he had eaten and again there was a long pause. He decided it would be easier to just show me. So I followed both boys into the playroom where they lifted up the bean bag to reveal their pile of trash.

They had consumed every single piece of candy, including: 2 tootsie rolls, 1 tootsie roll lollipop (don't even ask me how they managed to get through one of those giant things), 2 or more Hershey kisses, a large lollipop made out of chocolate, 3 other small heart-shaped lollipops, some candy hearts, and a few other items that were unidentifiable.
I had them clean up the mess and they then offered to go sit in time-out. I let them know that they didn't need to do a time-out; that instead, their punishment would be something different. Sneaking candy? Eating all of it? That seemed to call for a more drastic consequence than a time-out or no more candy for the day. So I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. In one stroke I would rid our house of the sugary stuff that turns my kids into hellions and also let my boys know that their behavior wasn't okay in any way. Their candy bags went into the trash along with the candy that Tru brought home from his valentine's day party. It was a hard lesson for them but one that I'm pretty sure they'll remember. And before you start to feel bad for my kids and run to your pantry to make a gift bag of candy for them, keep in mind that Easter is only a month or so away. The candy bags won't remain empty for long.