I Threw Away All of the Kid's Toys

I recently made a huge change in our house. And that change was to throw out all the toys that were laying around. About a year ago I read of a woman doing something similar and it has stuck with me. I think she said that her kids felt "entitled."
And my reasons were quite similiar.
Although I do not have any children of my own, we have regular, weekly kid visitors. I have a 5 year old niece and a 5 year old nephew. And I have a step-grandson who is 7. Between all three of these little rug rats, we had about 5 toy chests throughout our house.
It was becoming a regular habit for them to expect a new toy here on their next visit. It seemed like that was all they were waiting on. And that they never really took the time to "see us." They just wanted to see the next new thing of the moment and that was it. And I had to always get after them to pick them all back up.

I had started to notice this trend and I figured I should make a change early on. Although now, I do wish I'd noticed it even sooner.

I didn't want all of them growing up to be greedy and living off the thrill of material things. Being a crafty person by nature, I figured I could get them interested in making "new toys." And that this would invoke their creativity.

So the first step was to get rid of all the junk toys, I call them. Hey, if it doesn't involve some sort of learning skill, that's what I really think most of them are. Of course now, I understand they all need their "favorite toy." The toy that they keep forever, but this is not their home. I'm sure they keep those with Mommy and Daddy.

So anyways, I boxed up almost everything, with the exception of a handful of hot wheels cars and a baby doll and donated the rest to the Good Will.

The first visit after I did this, the kids ran, one by one to where the toy chests had been. They did seem confused at first. But I told them I donated them to children that didn't have any toys to play with. And that we were going to "make new toys."

The first thing I made with my 5 year old nephew was a witch's broom. He had brought a witch hat with him from a previous Halloween costume and it was his idea to make a broom.

That was a great thing to do! I took him outside, walking around the edge of the woods and found a perfect fallen branch. He collected that. And then we went to the building where we have Indian Decorating Corn. He sorted through it to find a pretty colorful one and brought it to me. And I'm sure he had no idea how this was going to become a toy, but it really kept his imagination going. And he seemed to stay interested the whole time.

I showed him how to rip off the corn husks and to put them at the end of the stick. He held them in place while I tied on some string around it all. And a few minutes later he was fascinated that he had a witch's broom that we had made from stuff laying outside.
He took off "flying" through the yard on his witch's broom and I couldn't have been a happier Aunt. To see kids outside more and using their imagination is what I had wanted to do.

His witch's broom kept him occupied for about a half an hour until he brought it back to me broken from a flying accident. And then I showed him how to repair it with black tape.
It was a very great day to say the least. And not once did I have to get after him about picking up the toys and returning them to the toy chest because there wasn't enough to make a mess with.

+Kids +Toys +Changes +Life +Personal