I went to Wal-Mart yesterday to get some groceries and was surprised to see that they are putting our their Christmas decorations all ready. Halloween is still SIX weeks away. I have just barely thought about putting out my fall decorations.
It is too early!
It makes me dread Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Christmas. It's not one of my favorite holidays-but I love decorating, and the food, and sitting by the fire and drinking hot chocolate. I love watching my kids on Christmas morning.
But when I think about Christmas morning right now it makes my stomach clench. I feel like we're drowning in the stuff my kids have all ready! I can't stand the thought of adding more toys to it. And my kids really want a Wii but that isn't going to happen this year. Not in the budget. So, I dread that they might be disappointed.
I think my kids are like a lot of kids today. They have lots of toys. They have Legos, Lincoln Logs, Little People, dolls, Barbies, and cars. And this doesn't include the bins of coloring books and supplies, and the toys outside or the shelves full of books.
I guess my problem is that it seems like my kids don't appreciate what they have. They don't very often clean up their toys, and I find parts to every imaginable toy scattered throughout the house even when a certain time as been rotated out for a couple of months!
The natural answer would be to down-size. Get rid of some of it. Purge. That's a wonderful thought, isn't it? The problem is that they play with everything. There is a plastic pumpkin in my closet full of toy animals that they don't play with but getting rid of those wouldn't even make a dent in the mess.
When the Thomas the Train set is out, all three build different tracks. When the Legos are out, all three build cars, and houses and towns. When the Lincoln Logs are out the older two build parking lots, towers and houses and youngest comes through and acts like that giant reptile. I can't think of it's name. Godzilla, maybe? When the blocks are out they are played with by all three kids.
So then I feel like getting rid of these toys that are used often isn't a good idea. But I have to do something, because Christmas is right around the corner! If you were at Wal-Mart, you might think it was in a couple of weeks!
So, what are your thoughts? What are you doing to get ready for Christmas? Any ideas how I can get my kids to take better care of the toys they have?
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And completely off the subject - I am going to a RS Enrichment planning meeting tonight. Any great ideas for Christmas activities?
15 comments:
I'm in the same boat as you. I wish my kids appreciated what they have. If you get any great ideas please pass them on!! Thanks, love ya!
We're living parallel lives! Last night our FHE was about being thankful for what we have and taking care of it. I can't take the toy situation anymore, and, like you, the thought of Christmas puts my stomach in knots. What I keep threatening to do, and just need to find the time to go through with it: 1) sort and dump (they'll forget about it soon enough); then rotate toy buckets. We'll keep out the big stuff all the time - the train stuff, the blocks, but put everything else in 3 or 4 buckets that get rotated in and out every other week or so.
I started removing toys a few months back. I put them in a box in the garage. Only once has my son asked for a toy that I hid and I brought it back in. Now I will rotate toys. I bring something in, something else goes out. My kids never even notice when I take them away but when I bring old toys back in it is like they have brand new toys.
I've decided for Christmas, they will get one gift from each other, one gift from Santa and some boring, I mean practical, gifts from mom and dad (books, board games etc).
They will also get a few small stocking stuffers and that is it. And in the days following Christmas, I'll be removing some older toys from the play room.
I'm a rotater, but we don't have a garage anymore and the kids get into the other bins all the time. So I'm about one week away from the big purge and a DI run. I'm going to use Christmas as the excuse; it's going to be a prerequisite (how do you spell that?) before new gifts. I like Julie P's FHE idea and I'm hoping Santa will be very frugal this year!
we decided that this year we are going to try something different. we are going to give the gift of experiences. so, for example, nani would get something like rock climbing lessons with dad for a week. or horseback riding lessons for the girls. or we may just do a family ski trip. the point being that we are not adding to the commercialization of christmas, but focusing on building memories with family. isn't that what christmas is about? beyond the obvious of celebrating the birth of the Savior? family, friends, and great memories!
good luck with your christmas!
in our family, if they don't clean up their toys mom or dad get to clean up their toys and that means we put it up for a week or we get rid of it. i think it helps them realize what their responsibility is for caring for their toys. we always give them the choice. we say, "you can clean up your toys or you can let me clean up your toys. you choose." then it is their choice and the consequence is already set and they know what the consequence is for letting mom or dad clean it up. no yelling or arguing, which i love! the first time we cleaned up for them they realized we were serious!
To get ready for Christmas, I make the kids go through their toys so we can give stuff away to those who can't afford Christmas...it helps them get into a "giving" frame of mind instead of "getting." It also seems to make the kids a little more appreciative of the things they do have. We also tend to buy things more like clothes and shoes and books now more than toys, which helps cut down on the toy clutter.
Oh, I have a surprise for you on my blog...stop on by when you have a minute... :)
We have the same rule at our house as Mahina. They get to clean it up or we get to clean it up. If I clean it, it goes in my closet and they have exactly a week to earn it back by doing one EXTRA chore for each thing taken. It's a win, win situation. If they forget about the things that were taken and don't earn them back they go to goodwill. It just means it didnt mean enough to them to earn back.
We have done the experience route several times for Christmas gifts for our kids. They love it, we love it.
Rotating bins (each bin has its them--lego, cars, etc.) seem to be the best solution for toys. It sounds like it would really work for you, as your kids enjoy all the toys. Maybe half the bins are out of reach in the garage, and you mark on the calendar (monthly?) when a new bin gets rotated in...and maybe the kids have to decide together which one (pictures for the youngest?).
Good luck with the Christmas thing...it's very hard & I understand the too much/too expensive thing. It's hard with teens/young adults as the price tags are big, and 'wish list' cause disappoint. I love the experiences idea. Gift cards can be fun too...but then I usually pick up things on clearance when I can through the year.
I had a conversation with Kaedance this morning about picking up the toys she is done with before getting out more. She has not grasped this concept and fights me when it's clean up time. I've made the decision that this Christmas, there won't be many toys under the tree like the past 3 years.
She is good about donating the toys she doesn't play with and I try to do that every few months so I don't feel over run with stuff!
I can see how the tons of toy thing can be a problem. I'll keep that in mind for the future. Luckily our little one doesn't have too much right now.
I need enrichment ideas too!! I just got called to be the enrichment leader, HELP! Ofcourse they call the one person who has never been to enrichment. OYE. If I get any ideas I'll let you know.
They have a job chart and cleaning toys is one of the things on there. We resort to taking toys away that they don't clean up as well. Like Mahina we are doing more memories as gifts instead of toys. So much more meaningful. They'll remember a family vacation in 10 years but they'll never remember a new toy they got.
I am feeling the same way this year. I only want to get one thing they really want and a few little things. We have so much!! With 4 boys my youngest doesn't need anything new.
It's going to be more about SERVICE this year.
I too hate how the stores market Christmas so early. Especially when they play the music before Thanksgiving.
I'm not doing anything to get ready for Christmas yet. Except putting away money here and there. My younger one has the most toys. I was sick of his big toy box and I knew what he didn't play with, so I emptied it out and took it out of his room. I purged a bunch of old stuff that was broken or for babies or things I knew he wouldn't play with. I left all the stuff that was still good in a bag in the garage for 2 months and when he didn't ask for any of it, I took it to DI.
In the bottom of his closet now, is the box with all his plastic animals and a laundry basket with the remaining toys. It's so much more manageable now.
My older two kids were much the same way with toys. With Aspen I have tried to cut way back on toys. She still has more than she needs though and I am going to downsize again soon.
I agree. My kids don't need a lot. I would rather spend money to take them to the Nutcracker or iceskating than buying them tons of toys.
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