Joe is a blogger dad who woke up one day to find his house had turned into a sea of toys. Here is what he did about it.
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My son has a lot of toys. Like, a lot. Too many, by far. You don’t realize it as it’s happening. A gift here and there, a new truck, a new thing with buttons that loudly shouts songs at you, a set of blocks. It builds up. My family loves to give toys as gifts. My father especially has a fondness for spoiling me and my siblings as a child, and he has passed on this love to my wonderful son. Because of this, we are at capacity for our small apartment. I’m pretty sure if we get a couple more car tracks or riding toys, the apartment may start sinking into the ground from the immense weight.
Despite this, we don’t want to take away from our son. A lot of people feel that a lot of toys is bad, that it can be distracting, or that they will not gain focus that having a small number of toys may provide. I can see where you can get this idea. All of those lights and sounds and things can be distracting to an adult, for sure. They can also be very annoying. My son has recently gotten into a “things with wheels” phase which includes a toy firetruck with lifelike sounds (lifelike in volume,if my burst eardrums are any indication). If I had noticed a lack of focus in my son’s playtime or activities, I would have definitely started taking away some of these things, but I’ve never seen a correlation. He gets an idea in his head, like “I want to climb up on the couch and drive my toy car off the edge, letting it crash into the ground, because i find destruction hilarious”, and he does it. Again, and again and again. Our problem isn’t so much the types of toys, or having too many. It’s a spatial issue that we’re having. Only so many things can fit in one apartment. So I have used a couple methods for both keeping the toy to floor ratio at a comfortable level, while providing my son enough variety to keep him from losing interest and getting bored.All the childproofing in the world cannot save you from a bored toddler!
1- Use Creative Concealment! (Hide them!): If you don’t want your kid to play with too many electronics, but you find yourself with a dozen different v-tech faux tablets, just limit the number they have available at any one time. Keep one or two out in view, and put the other ten away. Just don’t keep them under lock and key. Keep them in a space that is still available to them. You might not know that your child has developed a strong attachment to a particular toy, and the moment they go without, it might upset them. If it’s in something that they have access to, they can decide what they want to play with, and kids really start liking their independence at around 12 months or so. An opaque box (we use a comfy ottoman that my son uses to climb on said couch to throw down said car) does the trick just fine.
Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad free2- Rotate!: Something I learned in my work in retail is that people can get desensitized and bored very fast. You constantly seek out new things. For a child it is a lot less boredom and a lot more curiosity. Once a kid gets a handle on something, and they feel they have it down well, they will move on to something new, at least in the early ages. They are sponges, trying to absorb all the information they possibly can, so they seek out new things. The same ball all day every day is going to get old fast. I noticed this with my own son, when he was at around 9 months. He stopped playing with things, and started trying to go into places he shouldn’t, touch stuff he shouldn’t touch, and eat things he definitely shouldn’t be eating. I was fed up with his tiny cruiser BS, so I put his toys in the ottoman. It was then that I realized it was already full, with OTHER toys. So I took all those out, to fit the other ones in, and he immediately came over to check them out. I was amazed at how it changed the dynamic of our days together. So now I try to rotate out some toys every month or so, just to keep things fresh. This doesn’t mean you need NEW toys, heck no! Bring out that thing they chewed on as an infant, they might even remember it and be happy to know its not gone forever. This also doesn’t mean you need to overhaul your entire toy lineup. They will be happier with a few toys that stick around all the time. I don’t know exactly why, but they do.
3-Encourage Growth Through Themes! I said a little earlier in my post that my son is going through a “thing’s with wheels” phase. I noticed this on one of our father and son days, AKA Thursday. He was actively avoiding most of his toys, but one little blue car had his complete attention. Then I showed him a bus we had phased out for the time being and he played with it very happily. The next week, I stashed almost all of his toys, except for a few perennial favorites, and just left out the ones with wheels. When he came home from daycare he let out a squeal of pure unadulterated joy and ran for them. Big ones he can sit on, and tiny ones that fit his toddler hands perfectly. Ones to push, ones to pull, and ones that go on their own. His absolute favorite is a blue train (choo-choo!) that will puff along at a slow speed that he can keep up with. He runs them into each other, knocks them off things, and is enraptured with movement and locomotion.
Watching him develop a strong like for one specific thing is exciting. It seems more like a kid thing to do, and less like a toddler thing. He might not have acquired the attachment if he hadn’t had so many toys that sometimes I forget I have a floor. It’s all about how you mitigate it and encourage his play that makes or breaks a room full of toys. I am left wondering what will be the next thing he grows a fondness for, and how will we experience it together. One toy at a time (in a room filled with dozens!).
Originally appeared on JustAnotherDad.com
Top Photo: Flickr/Brian Laughman