Are you wondering why I am asking you if the amount of toys your children have is overrunning your home? Well, let me tell you why and that is because I feel like that. So with Christmas just past and Valentines right around the corner then Easter. I have asked Charlies Aunts and Grandparents not to purchase toys for Charlie. Until he decides to give some of the toys, he plays with away.
Charlie has to decide to do it on his own. I let him know this means inside and outside toys. Charlie cannot decide at the last minute to keep the toys he said he wanted to give away and unpack them to play with as he did in the past.
I will not go into his room and clean it out and box up toys to give away as it only leads to Charlie getting upset with me. Or for me giving things away he wants to keep. Or I throw toys away that went with other toys, and then he ends up missing pieces to the toys he wanted to stay.
David and I sat down with Charlie on New Years, and we explained to him that he couldn’t get new toys until he went through and cleaned his room from top to bottom.
We also let Charlie know we wanted him to go through the toys in the yard. Then we would make three piles ones to give away, ones he would keep, and ones we could use in homeschool.
At first, Charlie was doing good with it and was getting rid of stuff, and our school room was becoming more organized, and I was finding out I didn’t need to purchase a lot for it. As time has gone on Charlie has been taking the items we use for Homeschool back to play in his room with, and when we need them for school, I can’t find those items.
I pulled out a calendar and went over all the different Holidays when Charlie could get new toys and also showed him the days he gets his allowance. And I mentioned again that he wouldn’t be able to purchase any new toys if things didn’t’ change. He has signed a Pledge that by next Friday he will have both his room and yard cleaned and half of the items in it gone.
Once he does, I told him he could make a list for each Holiday of 1 toy he would like to play with and one new item for Homeschool. Once that was done he could pick one Field Trip a month for us to go on as it would get us out of the house.
Now Charlie is excited, and we discussed Charlie being able to get new toys I reminded him of Pley and how we could sign up with them and they would send him new toys to try out.
Once he finished playing with those toys, we would be able to send them back in and get a new toy to try out. This new system could be done for both Homeschool and play with his friends.
Once I reminded him that it would be much easier to keep his room clean by doing this, he said he would like to give it a try. I Pray he keeps it up for the rest of his childhood.
For Valentines David and I have decided to sign Charlie up for a 3-month subscription because Pley offers Legos and other toys Charlie would enjoy playing with in Homeschool.
We can rent one toy at a time and never pay shipping or handling. If we receive a toy Charlie doesn’t like we can return it and ask for another one. Unlike a store where we would just waste the money.
If you haven’t had the chance to check out Pley you should as they offer over 400 Lego sets and Robotics toys and will be adding new items soon. Which may include accessories for dolls so if you have little girls I bet they would be excited to hear this.
For the parents that just have Legos sitting around you can even turn your Legos into Pley and earn credit so instead of just letting the Legos collect dust why not turn them in and use your account to get the kiddo’s some new toys? Because if we had Legos sitting around it is what I would do. Although Charlie only has one set of Lego’s.
You will not find us saying the number of toys Charlie has is overrunning our home anymore. If you want to stop telling everyone, you know that the number of toys in your home is taking it over make sure and check out Pley which will help with this issue.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
