I have spent the last couple of months decluttering. It must be the season for cleaning and organizing. I am tired of toys, books, crafts, clothes, cleaning products and other random things lying around in the wrong spot.
A while back, I read an article about a mom who took most of her kids' toys away in an effort to encourage more creativity. I thought it was a bit harsh since many toys were probably truly loved. My guess is that those special toys stayed. So, one day, when the girls went to school, I went through every single toy in the house and threw away two big bags full of junk and put everything else in its special place. I also took every Schleich animal and put them in a plastic bin in storage. Now, I do NOT buy toys for the girls (aside from a couple for Christmas or birthdays)... Okay, I sounds like a horrible mom. I just really haven't had a need to buy them any toys. If they want something, they ask for it for Christmas or a birthday or save up money themselves to buy it. However, there is no lack of toys here. I was pleasantly surprised that only one toy was discovered missing that had been thrown away from two bags.
In my quest to declutter, organize and eliminate unnecessary things, I learned a couple of things about the girls.
#1 The special things that they love the most were a lot of the things Aaron and I gave them from our own childhoods. Those were things that they had already been given a special place in their bedrooms.
#2 They treat the toys that they bought with their own money much better.
#3 Some broken retired toys mean too much to be thrown away. I guess I have a couple of those myself.
#4 My girls really don't have that many toys. They just have a habit of getting them all out at once. ;)
#5 Half of the Barbies that they play with are mine from the 80s and that the clothes are not interchangeable.
#6 Corinne likes to label everything and her room was already very organized.
#7 Caitlin is pretty indifferent about toys and is more interested in collecting random things/treasures from around the house. She has a container full of "fuzzballs" that are actually baby dinosaurs and she told me I better not open it because they bite everyone but her. She also loves filling notebooks with drawings, doodles and words copied from books.
#8 Corinne loves rocks, science experiments and reading. I never really paid that close attention to her collections. She is fascinated by all things nature and science. Her AG doll means nothing to her, so it is put away But, I will not touch her assortment of collected rocks or experiments.
I had read that article and was really worried that the girls had too many toys and maybe their imagination was suffering because of it. Last night, on Shark Tank, one of the business owners mentioned that parents, on average, spend something like $1500 per year on toys for a child. Really? If this is true, I must have had a severely deprived childhood and I'm doing the same for my girls.
