No, this isn't a post about the stimulus package...
This is about our playroom and the problem with excessive amounts of toys.
Neat Freaks, look away.
I don't know if your kids are anything like mine, but I have the kind of kids that had tons of toys that were never played with. And I'm the kind of mom who thinks that all the Littlest Pet Shop toys should all live in their very own bin. And the Barbies should all be together in their own bin. And Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head should all be in one bin and so on and so forth. And I'm also the kind of mom who prefers to have the kids' friends play at our house. And my kids' friends are the kind of kids who like to dump all the toys out, but don't play with them and then I'm left to clean up everything and put all the toys back into their proper bins. I'm not the kind of mom who enjoys this. I started thinking about what toys my kids do actually play with. They like their Littlest Pet Shops, their Nintendo DS's, their American Girl Dolls and Webkinz. I was fairly certain that I could get rid of all other toys and they wouldn't really care as long as they kept what they really love. So since I'm the kind of mom who isn't against bribery, I enlisted the help of two new Webkinz that would live on top of the fridge until my kids got rid of almost all their other toys. Brilliant, I know. Meet Pansy the Hummingbird and Bubbles the Seahorse. I couldn't have done it without them.
With their help we were able to get rid of bags and bags of toys. Gone are the Legos. Gone are the Polly Pockets. Gone is the Princess castle. Gone are stacks and stacks of books, games and puzzles. Gone are all the Dora The Explorer toys. Gone are 2 garbage bags full of stuffed animals. Gone are the doll strollers. Gone are 2 toy cash registers. Gone is the train set. And guess what?!? It's been about 2 weeks since I did all this and the kids don't even miss any of those toys.
Here is the load of crap headed for DI.
You can tell from the debris that was swept up that this is a girls playroom. Beads, barrettes, Barbie shoes, oh, and a fake chicken drumstick...all sure signs.
And here are the results. Looks pretty good.
Now, don't feel sorry for my kids, I have vowed to get rid of half of all my stuff, too. All in all, I feel like my kids have learned a valuable lesson about excess. And how anything in excess can be too hard to manage. Hopefully they will remember this. Ha, who am I kidding?
