I made a response to a comment on my Household Projects post. This comment has inspired me to tell you of my exciting decision to purge the dress up section.
Since I have a home daycare and children of
various ages and developmental levels at any given time, I find it difficult to get rid of toys that are not broken (I’m really good at getting rid of those!). Every time I go to get rid of toys I get confused, doubt myself, question if I will one day need it for future clients, and then end up leaving all the toys because I only end up finding one or two I want to get rid of.
I’ve recently come up with a few tricks. First, I had toy themes of the weeks. The children would help me gather all the toys for that theme (e.g. blocks or books or dress up toys) from around the house. They would then be housed in the main playing area for the week. After the week I would gather all the toys and place them back in the playroom in one bin.
Now that the toys have been generally sorted and the broken ones disposed of, I’ve been watching what they play with. Specifically, I’ve been watching the dress up toys (for a few months now). The children don’t really play with the smaller sized costumes. As a result, my first big purge plan is to gather the dress up clothes, look through for the smaller princess costumes, fix any that need fixing up, and get them out of the house (perhaps to a neighbour girl). I feel better just having mentally made the decision!
I realize that children are to be involved in the purging process, however, since these are not “special” toys and are part of the home daycare collection I have decided to purge them without the consent of the children. I even checked with Org Junkie on this one and she suggested this could be considered general home maintenance since I have the special toys for my children in their rooms and I consult them on purging those ones.
How do you decide on toys and purging?
8 Comments
I have been trying to purge my kiddos things. It is so hard to get rid of stuff like their stuffed animals and things. It's even harder when they 'help'!
http://cnavphoto.blogspot.com/2012/04/just-keep-shooting.html
That sounds like a smart way to do it. I have a hard time getting rid of things unless they are broken.
That's not just smart ~ it's inclusive and how great is that to include the young ones in the decision making. Bravo!
Yes, when the "help" they tell me EVERYTHING is their favourite (even if it's been boxed up for months). And what is it with dolls and stuffed animals. Two big bins full and nobody EVER plays with them. More like dust collectors.
Toys are one of those "never know" areas of parenting. As soon as I get rid of it I just know they are going to ask me for it!
I hope that in letting them be part of (some) of the decision making that they will learn how to declutter as they grow up and have trust in me that they won't come home from school one day and have no toys left. It's a precarious balance.
Isn’t it amazing how the princess costumes can take up so much space?! Thankfully our little girl has a couple really nice dresses and one tutu. I’ve been able to pretty much keep it at that. Good luck with the purge!
I was motivated and did get them downsized. I now have a corner and 1 tote dedicated to the dress up center and the kids have been playing with it more since they can find things.