When my first baby was small I was heavily influenced by others and the need to provide for him. If we went to another child's hose for mothers group and they had a toy that H Boy was interested in I would make a point to go out and buy it - because clearly he liked this toy and he needed it for his development.
He needed the musical ring stacker and the plastic musical bongo drums and the mega blocks dump truck and numerous other things that I am sure I bought without thinking.
The only thing was, I would get these things home and give them to him and they would just sit on the floor without being played with.
I think that probably only 10% of thetoys we own ever get played with.
Do our kids really need 6 Dump trucks and the latest roaring dinosaur gadget?
No - he will be fine without these things.
I have spent the last 6 months or so gradually reducing the toys to only those that provide valuable learning experiences. I feel like we still have a truckload of toys and there are some that very rarely get played with.
As the new baby grows out of some of the toys I will give them to charity or pass them onto friends.
I am so much more conscious now of the toys that I am bringing into the house. I learnt with the first baby that many toys have multiple small parts which when strewn all over the house drive me mental.
I am glad that the less is more approach has found me now that we have two children. I couldn't imagine what it would be like otherwise!
No comments:
Post a Comment