Too many toys? Give the gift the giving.

[Guest guest]

from another list

 

Too many toys? Give the gift the giving.

 

In terms of too many toys...we've been there lots of times.

When you find yourself in a situation like that, one valuable thing

you can

teach your children is the gift of giving.

I've always been the type of mom that if my son won't pick up his own

toys, I will not hesitate to recycle a bunch of them. Donate to your

favorite

charity (you can even get receipts for tax purposes). Now that

Kyle's older, he

likes to help weed out unplayed with toys to contribute to charity as

well. A couple times a year, we go through the toys and throw out

any broken

(unsafe) ones. And then we weed out toys to donate to charily. We

do this 2-4

times a year, and always about 6 weeks before Christmas because I

know a lot of

people shop at thrift stores for Christmas.

Even the clothing bank in the town I was born in had a couple boxes

of toys

that were donated. Everything there is free. So it's like a

recycling place

of stuff or a charity that I know many of people have utilized.

Children's hospitals, emergency shelters, transitional living

centers,

clothing banks...the list in endless for families that are low on

income to buy

stuff for their kids. In the small county I used to live in, even

the welfare

office, the WIC office, & the family resource center had toys that

were donated.

From someone that's been there, I can't tell you what a relief it

is/was to

have your kids occupied playing with stuff while adults are taking

care of

necessary (and sometimes stressful) business. The kids can play

while an adult

doesn't have to worry about keeping them occupied.

If they were toys my son outgrew, (like when he outgrew baby/toddler

toys), I

usually passed them along to other parents I knew that couldn't

afford much

for their kids.

I've also given a bunch of toys to a friend of mine that baby-sits in

his own

home. Even friends or relative that don't have kids of their own or

have

kids that grew up and moved out often keep a toybox to entertain the

children of

people that come over to visit. My parents live on a limited income,

and I

didn't see the need for them to go out and buy a bunch of toys to

keep at their

home; and they got a large toybox of toys that I gave them that my

son, my

nephews, and anyone else that has kids play with when they come

visit. My own grandmother has a similar toybox that her own children

donated to. I

go visit my grandma, and she has a toybox that her great

grandchildren

(including my son) enjoy. I've always been able to visit grandma

while my son was

playing, or sometimes he will bring out the toys & my grandma enjoys

playing

telephone & restaurant with him. And what an experience it is to see

multi-generations sharing the joy of childhood!