Tuesday, June 23, 2015

A Minimalist - Children And Stuff


Working with kids and their things is the part a care giver finds hard . Removing toys and general junk out of the child`s room and life . 


With all the cartoon channels and the new toy ad`s blasting for ten minutes  , we hear these words " I want one of those ! " or " can I have one ? " over and over .

Then the holidays come around and mom and dad , grandma and grandpa , aunt and uncle , and lets not forget brother and sister ALL buy the little one something or a bunch of things . 

Now their rooms are piled sky high with old toys and new . How do you get rid of the old stuff to make room for the new ? You try to go in and take things out and have to face the child crying because you are taking his / hers favorite toy .

What you do next could make your child understand the meaning of " things " or be a future hoarder .

Yes you are the parent and what you say goes but its how you say it that matters . 

I do have several suggestions to help a child ease through getting rid of old stuff .

First suggestion is to let your child be a part of your own journey .

Put a small box next to the back door and as you add an item to donate ask your child to do the same . Let him / her know that there are people that do not have any toys and they would make some child with no toys happy with the toy they don`t really like anymore and that you will make some lady/ man really happy with your donation .

As soon as the child puts that toy in the box , take it out to the car and put it in the trunk . Out of sight , out of mind.

When you go out to town the next time let the child put their item in the donation bin after you put yours in  now he / she has the sense of accomplishment .


The next post will have another idea on how to deal with children and their clutter .

By Andria Perry

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