From the minute my daughters were born, they have been inundated with stuffed animals. I think it's great that people see a toy and think about my daughters. I am grateful that others send gifts. Still, at the end of the day, when it's time to pick up their mess, I wonder why we have so many stuffed animals.
It would be easy to say, "Oh, we'll just thin the pile." It's not that easy. Each stuffed animal has a purpose. Each animal is sought after during specific games. I'm trying to figure out the best way to thin things out without causing a ruckus.
Please don't take this as an indication that my daughters are spoiled. They're not. It's just that it's not easy for them to see their toys taken away, regardless of the reason. Every six months my moms of multiples group holds a sale so we can get rid of clothes, gear and toys. My daughters have actually been really good about helping me determine which toys are "baby toys." We've sold or donated a considerable amount of toys and books... still, every time I turn around, I'm stepping on another stuffed animal.
Some days I threaten to throw it all away. All of it. These are the days when no one wants to help me clean up. I'll never follow through with that threat, but it's always interesting to think of what my house would like without toys in every corner!
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My life with quadruplets
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- Quadmama
- I'm a former TV news anchor who is raising quadruplet daughters. I don't claim to be an "expert" parent, but I think my tips, triumphs and struggles will give you some insight to my life. Have ideas for this site? Email me at momofquads@gmail.com
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6 comments:
When I would go through things to give to goodwill and the like, I always had my daughter help me. I explained that there were many children who had little or nothing to play with and that toys she no longer needed could make their days better.
I usually had to put the brakes on before she gave them all up.
Just yesterday, I discreetly moved through the house like a stealth ninja picking up all the scattered stuffed animals and putting them in a plastic tote. I hid it in the attic. I'll see if anyone notices that they're missing, but if they don't say anything by the time a month has passed, those stuffed animals will be moving out permanently.
Good luck with the dream of not having any toys in your house. My 3 children are all adults now and live elsewhere, but I seem to still have toys in the house. Toys for children of friends that come over, toys for my students for when they visit; baby toys, toddler toys, and big kid toys. I have 5 "fake" grandchildren ranging in age from 15 years to 2 years. So yes; I still lots of toys. I think that they keep us young.
Sounds like the toys at our house =)
One of these days your girls will be grown and you'll wish they'd left behind a stuffed animal or two. Unless you can't move for them being in the way, I wouldn't worry about how many they had.
My granddaughter (20) just told us that she would surround herself with beanie babies before she went to sleep, then choose a special one for that night. She felt safer with them beside her.
None of us ever suspected that was the case. She surely had a lot of those toys.
Your house sounds like our house- toys everywhere, as far as the eye can see. I consider myself lucky to have not yet broken a limb from all the times I've nearly fallen as I've accidentally stepped on a toy. I swear it is my kids' goal each day to take out every single toy we own. And of course, none of it gets put away unless I do it. They love to sing the clean up song, but are pretty terrible with the follow through. I will confess that on a particularly bad day, I did get out the trash bag and threaten to throw all the toys away unless they started helping me clean up. It worked, but I felt terrible having made the threat. Now I'm just secretly setting toys aside for our twin club's fall sale. If they miss a toy enough to ask for it, I'll give it back. If not, it's going to the sale.
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