9) Organize Children’s Toys
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This should be a fun topic right after your children have opened a bunch of Christmas presents. Try taking them away now.
We have established some simple rules on the front end to cut down on the number of toys our children get.
1st) We ask everyone to only buy one gift per child. We have a big family so this still doesn’t cut it, but it helps.
2nd) We get rid of (give away or sell) one item for each new item that enters our home. This applies to toys just like everything else. It helps us curb the madness of materialism and consumerism that has run wild in this country. I’m not preaching as I have been guilty of this attitude in the past. No more though. We’ve decided for the simple life.
After applying these two rules, we can at least have a fighting chance to tame the clutter that is toys.
Will you occasionally sit down to a Dora doll in the middle of your back on the couch? Sure.
Will you step on a firetruck in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom? Sure.
Will you reach for a newspaper or magazine and get clippings from a coloring book? Sure.
However, it will be much less often if you follow this checklist.
- Use the kindergarten model for setting up your home. This means each area of your home has a purpose and activity associated with it. I actually think this is easier with one floor than with two or three and I’ll explain why shortly. For example, our three children do crafts and play with play dough in the basement in my wife’s craft area.
- Rough housing toys like balls and big cars and the small trampoline are in the basement. Our children spend time here in the winter mornings when they can’t go outside and play with similar toys.
- Toys like puzzles, books, games and movies are upstairs in their bedroom/playroom. Our goal here is to get the kiddos bathed, let them unwind and then allow them to do something calm before bed.
- On the first floor in our home, they have toys like doll houses and castles and a jungle man play set for our son. While my wife prepares meals or feeds our 9 month old, these types of toys really engage the kids and don’t require someones assistance. Often they use their little imaginations and play for an hour before they even notice they don’t have mommy or daddies full attention.
Now this is just the way we arrange toys. The key is the Kindergarten model. When we leave one area, for example the craft area, we must clean up all the crafts and put them back in their home. When we leave the basement play area, we must pick up all the balls and cars and blocks. This way the children associate specific activities with each area and they learn the habit of putting things back which will serve them later.
To clarify, why could it be easier to do this on one floor? Well most classrooms are one room and may have 25 children. They manage. Less is more in this case. The more room you have the more you will fill. The less you have, the more creative you can be and the less clutter you can accumulate. Imagine one room where each corner had a specific task. No steps to climb with three children. No taking toys to different floors. Simple is much better. I have been on mission trips to the Dominican Republic several times and they have very little room and little to play with, but they are some of the most joyful children I’ve ever encountered.
Here is the rub. Your children would rather play with cardboard boxes, cooking utensils, bins, balloons and just about everything but the toys they have anyway.
