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
2 Comments Add your own
1. dottyspots | June 26th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Well done! We’re also in the middle of a bit of a purge (although we decided before my 4 year old was born that we weren’t going to go down the same path as we did with the older boys) - but mess seems to breed mess and all sorts of things have a habit of creeping in!
Still a long way to go until our house looks tidy again though (far too much crammed into a smallish space - well small when you’re a family of 6 with a big dog).
2. Sarah | February 4th, 2009 at 9:37 am
I’m so inspired by this post. We started out hard-core Waldorf with very few toys and lots of items from nature. Somewhere along the last 9 years since my son was born and after his sister 4 years ago we have accumulated LOTS of toys. Most of ours are still wooden in nature at least, but more plastic than I would like to admit and low quality items have entered our midst. I have been thinking these last few months on wanting to return to a more Waldorf life-style and wanting to purge. For me I get so attached to the kids toys, I remember them playing with them and it makes me sad to part with them. Maybe I can at least put some special ones that no longer get played with in the attic.
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