So you may be wondering what the title means “Why I Took Away My Kids Toys”….Well to start, I am not just being a mean mom by taking my kids toys away. We have gone through many many rounds of mommy cleaning up toys, reorganizing them, getting rid of toys, and picking them up again and again and again.. This week in particular I have sent my kids upstairs to pick up their toys and get it clean everyday. Sunday they were not to come down until it was clean.
To be honest it wasn’t as bad as it has been in the past since I had already done a huge purge over the holidays. So I just didn’t understand why when I went upstairs last night to put the kids to bed, not a thing had been picked up or put away in a week. They made the mess, they are old enough to help, so why do they act like it is the end of the world to be asked to help clean??!! I just don’t get it.
I do take responsibility for them having too much. I get carried away at Christmas time and birthdays for sure. I do love seeing smiles when they get new things, sure, but I have realized that we just had too much stuff. It is hard for me to get rid of things. The clutter was starting to get suffocating. So at the beginning of this year, I realized as well that I just wanted to Simplify.
So after all the failed attempts of asking them to clean their rooms and playroom, I had enough. This morning I took huge lawn bags and packed up all of their toys. All of them…. The only thing I left in their rooms was books, their stuffed animals they sleep with, board games, and their outside toys(skates, bikes, etc.) Even hubby was shocked at how much I took away.
Little Miss was the first to come home. She cried, but we spent time talking about why I took it all away. Surprisingly she got over it pretty quickly. She only asked for her Olaf 🙂
Since my kids rarely play with most of their toys, I have a feeling this will be a good change. I am going to leave the toys put away for a week or more, then plan on really combing through the toys to see what stays if much of anything. So why did I take away my kids toys? Because it is time for our family to simplify. Time to appreciate what we have. Time to reconnect with each other and not things.
I am not just trying to be mean mommy. I am not just trying to teach them a lesson. I want things to change as a family. So that is why I took away my kids toys.
Have you ever taken a drastic measure to help change your kids attitudes? Did it help?
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