Less is more - really!

I am not sure what your kids are like, but mine do not play with toys and do not entertain themselves. Not long enough for a phone call, not long enough for a load of laundry to be switched from wash to dry and certainly not long enough for a shower where I can shave my legs. (ok, who has enough time for THAT these days!) We have millions of toys, and one of my constant rants to the kids is "Find a toy and play with it!" Often, they cry when they hear this. Nice, eh? Like playing with a toy is punishment. I just assumed that my kids were 'less imaginative' and needed more interaction. WRONG! I first realized that something was awry when I took my children to a local children's museum and they flocked to the same train table that we have at home (yet they never play with). I mean, literally, they RAN to the table, picked out among many other choices and played there for an hour. SAME brand, SAME trains... I was stymied. Then I started to observe the table. Ok, it only had a few tracks and a few trains; the entire fleet seemed to be in the garage somewhere. The mini city of tracks were also missing. Hmmm... could I be on to something? A few more trips to local play areas and I observed the same thing: the less options there were, the more readily my kids picked a toy and played. Then, I looked around my own living room and I was horrified! Toys everywhere! No parts together, piles and baskets and stacks of toys! They were so overwhelming to me that I had ignored picking them up for weeks, and apparently, so did my kids. So, the cleaning binge was on! With some feedback from my boys and some elbow grease, I purged 5 trash bags of toys. Some were donated, some were sold and some were trashed. All in all, our living room toy inventory was cut but 65%. And guess what? My kids have never been happier. They actually use the toys that are left, use their imaginations and even attempt to puts their toys away at clean up time. Seriously - this is no place for bullshit! Less really IS more... who'd a thunk it?!