A month or so ago I read this post about getting rid of all of the toys. I was very intrigued. I'm always concerned about the children, and their imaginations, and creativity, and entitlement, and spoilage, and etc etc etc. But MJL just raised his eyebrows at me and I thought I was probably being crazy.
Then a week ago, I saw another post about it, that linked to the same post I had read. I did a quick search for "No more toys" and found a blog post here, and an article here, and I'm wondering two things-
1. How long until this is a real internet fad, and how interesting is it that Pinterest and blogs now spread Mommy fads instead of the local neighborhood (or is that just me and my isolated farm life)?
But really
2. Can I do this? I'm thinking we'd keep the legos, the big wooden blocks, a few cars, and a ball or two. I thinned down the kitchen toys once already, but I could do it again. Just a couple of pans and the felt food that I made ought to be plenty... What do you think? I love the idea of not tripping over toys, and of the little darlings being more creative, and of not tripping over toys, I like that part a lot.
What do you think, internet neighborhood?
5 comments:
We packed up all the toys when we went to stay with my mom and dad. Mom has some toys but not many. The same goes for the farm house. When I do get around to unpacking I will be thinning them out dramatically. Excess is bad in almost all cases. But I don't know if I agree that toys are inherently bad as some of these other bloggers alluded. Teaching contentment is necessary for everything. Food, clothing, housing not just playthings. I don't think by just removing the offensive thing one is able to teach contentment. I do t know. I do agree that this crazy Internet is a far bigger community than the one I actually physically occupy. It's sometimes too big. But otherwise I feel like its an encouraging place to be.
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: There is no magic pill. There's never going to be 1 extreme thing that you do that is going to be the single influence on your health, your house, your child's life, etc. In general, things done to the extreme are just that: extreme. I get the idea of fewer toys and such, but I can't say that removing all toys from the life of a child is reasonable - or that it's the only thing that makes them gracious. That being said, we both remember how fun OTHER kids new-to-you toys are, so we have a rotating cycle. We don't have a giant play room (yet?) with a zillion toys -- we have some shelves with baskets in the living room and we rotate the toys in and out every few weeks. And when the new-old-blocks or new-old-trucks, etc. turn up again, he's always thrilled to see his old friend.
I like the premise that less-is-more, I am just always turned off by promises that doing any 1 thing to the extreme will solve all of your problems. :)
(Am I being preachy? I worked all night...Sorry...)
I liked the minimalist lady the best -- this gal I can get with:
http://www.becomingminimalist.com/why-fewer-toys-will-actually-benefit-your-kids/
(Notice the less extreme language...fewer, less, limit, etc. Right up my alley.)
Oh, I know, the rotating. I just don't wanna! (super whiny) Anyone who works all night can be as preachy as they want. :)
We have one toy box of toys, one toy box of dress up clothes, and one bin of fake food. The rest is craft stuff. If it doesn't fit in those containers, the kids have to decide what to give away.
Works well for us. Just enough to initiate play, not too much to squish imagination.
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