Yesterday, after a very enlightening Twitter conversation with
her and
her, I embarked on the Great Toy Purge of 2011. My motivations were twofold: 1) Christmas is coming and we need some space in the playroom before it gets REALLY out of control and 2) I need to start teaching Noah some life lessons like the fact that not every child in this world has a ROOM full of toys. Both ladies employed the "pick out a few toys and we'll donate them to a less fortunate child" method of toy removal with excellent results. Both of their little guys got into it and really grasped the idea of giving toys to another little one who may not have as many wonderful things as they do. I was impressed and very motivated.
So I rounded Noah up and sat him down to explain what we were going to do. I was EXCITED! and used a POSITIVE VOICE! and kept mentioning how HELPFUL and GOOD this plan was! He bought in and we headed to the playroom. I asked him to pick out two toys and let him take his time deciding which ones he could part with. I encouraged him but didn't interfere with his decision process. Ten minutes later he had picked out the toys:
A blow up ball from a birthday party favor bag and one piece to a baby shape sorter. Sigh. I think we have some work to do.
6 comments:
What do you mean you have work to do? You've got an incredibly smart boy who takes your words and shoves them right back at you. Oooooh boy, I can't wait until he's a teenager!!! hahaha.
This made me laugh out loud! I didn't want to jam up your Twitter feed yesterday, but I should have made clear that it took a while for me to get my son to pick acceptable toys. I had to explain many times that we don't give away broken toys or games with missing pieces.
Time to employ the toss while he's asleep method! :)
Nicely played Noah, nicely played.
Hehe. Smart kid. I can see Margaret doing the exact same thing.
Snort.
I love your son.
You are a brave woman. I did this on my own a few weeks back while my husband distracted Madeline. So far, she has missed NOTHING. I broached the topic with her but the very idea that other children don't have much/anything to play with sent her into such a worry spiral of "WHY? Where did their toys GO? Don't they have MONEY from the MACHINE to buy MORE???" that I abandoned it altogether. I guess we'll try again next year!
His choices made me crack up, though. I agree with the commenter above: WELL PLAYED NOAH!
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