There seems to be this overwhelming pressure on parents to buy their kids every new toy that comes out. Which means that by the time the child is walking they will usually have more toys then they would ever play with. Not only is this an issue when you don’t have the space to store all the toys but it also becomes an issue because it overwhelms the kids and they don’t know what to play with. When my children were a bit younger we had so many toys that it would take us hours a day to clean them and they never knew what to play with. It was stressful and I finally decided that we needed to change something!
We started slowly by just getting rid of the things that weren’t for our children’s age group. Then we really buckled down and even got the kids involved in the process. They decided what toys they would like to keep and what toys they’d like to pass along to the next child.
Since our major purge of toys, we haven’t ever found ourselves in the same situation. We keep to some easy rules and try to go through the children’s toys every once in a while so that they are continually getting rid of things they no longer want. Here are some of the things that I find helpful to stay on top of the toy mounds!
Ways to keep the toys down
- Ask for gifts that aren’t toys; clothes, crafts, books, or passes to places are all good options.
- Have a limit; we have a cube shelf for each child with bins and they aren’t allowed to have more toys then what fits.
- Open-ended toys; having open-ended toys allows for different uses, meaning you can get away with less.
- Interested in things that don’t need toys; having the kids interested in things like sports, art, and music can keep them occupied without all the toys to go along with playing.
- Just buy less; honestly, just don’t buy as many toys. There isn’t a need for so many toys and usually, the kids would rather time with mom and dad rather than more toys.
Hopefully, this gives you a few ideas on how to keep down on the overflow of toys. If you have any ideas of your own I would really love to hear them! Leave your ideas in the comments below.
