Platt Discovery Cottage

Update on toy purge

April 29th, 2008

So, the great toy purge of 08 is finally done.  Finally.  Colin ended up doing most of the work because I was a bit overwhelmed by the task.  He did an awesome job, but he was exhausted.  And….we filled 20 large moving boxes!  20!  Amazing that we had that much stuff in this little house.

And that leads me to the most amazing part of this whole thing.  We live in a very small house and I always long for more space.   Once we got rid of all the toys, suddenly I had all sorts of room.  I have my kitchen back.  We were able to put a proper table in and we can all eat together in a civilized manner.  It’s awesome.

 The surprising part is that the kids don’t miss the toys at all.  Not even a tiny bit.  I was shocked.  We did, of course, leave them some blocks, some waldorf toys, a few puzzles and Family Pasttimes Games.  Now they really get into the games, they sit and look at their books longer, and when they do play with blocks and toys, there is no throwing or aggressiveness.  I had thought that was just part of being kids, but seeing that it no longer happens, I’m glad we made the switch.  In addition, because they can really get into things, they are not running around the house screaming their heads off because (I see now) they are so overwhelmed.  Right now they are sitting across from me at the kitchen table (yay!) putting game tokens in and out of a bag getting ready to play.  So cute - and look at the time getting rid of the toys has afforded me.  They are totally absorbed and I can sit and write on my blog.  They just get along so much better, too.

This has been such a positive change for our family.  I’m certainly not saying it will work for everyone, but I would say it’s worth a try!

Enjoying the clutter-free journey,  Amanda

Entry Filed under: This N That