It’s about that time. Out with the old and in with the new. With “Santa” and various friends and family purchasing toys for the boys the sudden panic sets in. “Where the hell am I going to put them all?” It all gets rather overwhelming. What’s a mom to do? PURGE. Time to pull the boys into the toy room and start getting rid of what they don’t play with. This is always a difficult task because as soon as I pick up a toy and say, “Here’s one you guys don’t play with.” it suddenly becomes their favorite toy again and they insist on sleeping with it for days. The toy hasn’t been touched in 7 months! My 6 year-old suggested that we just build another room to make room for the new toys. Yeah, okay buddy, how do you plan on funding this addition, and are you going to the city hall zoning board? Maybe he’ll be an architect some day. If we’re putting on an addition it’s going to be for Mommy…a mud room/laundry room (with a large closet I can hide in).
I like to involve the boys in this project so that they realize how fortunate they are. They really need to take a step back and look around and see all that they have. I know they are still young, but I’m sure that they get something out of the experience. The toy give-away box doesn’t fill up too, too much during this process, but it’s the next process where we actually make some progress. When the Kids Go to Bed…
When the kids to go to bed I already have a mental list of what is going to go. It’s only a matter of going in there, getting the stuff out, boxed, and hidden. I made the mistake one time of just taking the things and putting them in the spare room. One by one the toys eventually made their way back to the messy toy room. The little piano that seems to play it self at times, the box of shapes (with all the shapes missing), the little hammer/peg set that is missing the hammer…Yup, all back in the toy room. So my advice to parents…get them out and get them out quick. Not before New Years, not after Christmas, do it now before you become even more overwhelmed and have dreams of GI Joes, dinosaurs, and talking Elmos attacking you in your sleep. Go all ninja and get it done.
Sometimes I purge with them. Sometimes I just talk to them about what they’re willing to purge and then do the painful “actual purge” myself!
I just did the purge. My kids both have birthdays at the beginning of this month too which places additional significance on the timing of this annual purge. The “give away” items now sit in the dining room awaiting transition to their new homes causing a great many of them to make their way back into circulation. Amazing how these toys become so fun again. I should remember this next time my kids say they’re bored….we’ll be purging every month.
I have to threaten the boys weekly to go play with their toys or they are going into “the box.” TV off…it’s toy time!
LOL