Thursday, February 5, 2009

Toys...what toys?

We have been making the transition to "healthier toys" (& hopefully less toys) for a while. A few days ago we purchased some nice Melissa & Doug wooden blocks while planning to phase out the plastic ones. Every couple of months I "clean out" the toys bins & donate or consign whatever isn't so healthy, can be swallowed, has been played with only twice, etc. Usually L. helps. This day was no exception. He picked out some things he could live without (& some that can be replace with non-plastic items) & made friends with a few things that have fallen down to the bottom of the bucket & been long forgotten.
The favorite toy of the day was, however, the bin. 'Goes to show...all those sayings about how kids play with the box the toy came in over the toy. And Zora tried to teethe on the cord of L's sound machine rather than the teethers. Of course. Lament with me parents! Our kids do not need half the things we own! And yet, materialism is such a part of culture that we don't even notice 'til the toys are coming out of our ears (& living rooms). It reminds me why we all need to read a little Solomon every now & then.

1 comment:

Jessie said...

I'm somewhat of a minimalist with kid stuff. I mean, we have a corner of one room filled with toys, and a smallish basket in Cal's room - even that looks like a lot to me, and it's really not much. We love Melissa & Doug, BTW. We have several of their puzzles and magnet things.
Keep up the good healthy transitioning! I'm slowly replacing plastics cups. It's hard to find kid-friendly glasses around here!