Saturday, November 03, 2007

The Battle of Toys

Why is it when I go through his toys and commit to getting rid of two of the three different types of building blocks does he consistently play with the two I was going to give away????

I'm not sure if three years old is too young for this but I've already told him that after Thanksgiving he and I are going to go through his toys and he'll need to pick out 3 to give to kids who don't have many toys. He just looked at me and said, "oh." I'm sure that he doesn't really have the life experience yet to understand but I thought we'd start this year and see what happens. I went through some of his toys the day that I put them away and already have a pile started to be given away.

I've noticed now that there's less toys, not only is there less mess but he plays with more of a variety of them every day. They are also much easier for him to put away. Though it still takes 20 minutes for him to put away what would be 3 minutes of work for me I know that I'm enabling him to be responsible for his things and his own mess by it being his job.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heidi,
You are such an awesome Mom. I am so very proud of you.

Stephanie Appleton said...

I'm with you when it comes to toys, more is less! I find when there are too many the biggest fun they have with them is dumping them all out and moving them to the other side of the house. They don't actually play with them!

BTW you are wise to start now, before he really understands. It will be normal to him later.

Way to go Heidi!

Linds said...

When my children were small, every Christmas, they chose a toy of their own to give away to a child who didn't have any toys. And it was simple for them to understand. Each of them chose one which was a good toy, and special to them, because each of them was saddened by the thought of children with nothing to play with.

Let him choose something himself to give away, and you can always add other unused ones to the bag too! It is a lovely tradition to start, Heidi!

Wendy said...

I agree w/Stephanie, you are wise to do it now. I started this early and my kids are all really good about finding something to give away.

Sherri said...

They always get intertested in the toys about to be put away. That's why I always go through the toy boxes/play room when they are away for the day!! I guess I would be the same if someone were going through my things :).