Christmas is the Season for Giving

 

I was at the house of a very good friend of mine for coffee the other day and we were discussing how hard it was to have a normal life being sick, she has been diagnosed with arthritis and she is only 34 years old.
I noticed two bins lined at the end of the family room that had a few toys sitting on top of it. I asked her what those bins were for; the answer I got was a truly amazing one.


She explained to me that those two bins were her children’s toy bin. Each of her children had one bin in which they were allowed to keep their toys. I always commented on how neat and tidy her house was, especially with two kids there were never any toys strewn around the room.
She said that her and her husband came up with this idea, just after her first child was born. Both husband and wife are not rich, but they make a decent living and they wanted to make sure they instilled responsibility and giving into their children from an early age.
My friend told me that each child’s bin was full of their toys; they were allowed to have the bin of toys and no more. The bins were a good size but not huge by any means, so I asked what did she do when toys poured in at birthdays and Christmas?
She said, they would count the new toys and then seat their children next to their bins and for each new toy they received they had to take an old toy out, basically that bin had to never be overfull. She said her rule was the lid had to snap shut.
Now some toys were bigger than others, so if something was very big then it might take the place of two toys and if it wouldn’t fit into the bin, like the life size doll I saw sitting on top of one of the bins she would ask her child what they thought that big doll was worth in terms of the toys in the bin.
Once they had removed the toys from the bin to make way for the new ones they would as a family wrap them up and then take them down to the nearest shelter to give away.
She told me that at times the kids would protest or would take a long time to figure out what to give away, but in the end after they would take them to the shelter they just LOVED seeing the children’s faces who received the toys.
Now my friend is very organized and she instilled in her children to take good care of their toys and because this is done twice a year or whenever new toys come around, the toys they give away are in super good condition.
I thought that it was a wonderful idea; it was an easy way for her to keep things organized and tidy and a great way for her kids to learn the gift of giving in the process.
She is a great mom and I can’t wait to have kids of my own so that I can try out the bin theory.
By: Stefanie Leale, (c) 2008 butyoudontlooksick.com

  • *Deena

    My children’s toys were sorted by type into baskets: blocks, building bricks, cars and a driving mat, little dolls and clothes, toys from kids’ meals, and so on. These were stored on the shelves in their room. They were allowed one basket out at a time per child. When they were done, it was to be picked up. This system worked fine until there was a babysitter who didn’t enforce the rule, or who “helped” pick up the toys. When they were too old for a type of toy, those went to someone else who was the right age. There weren’t as many shelters, then, that we knew about, but there were always other, younger children who didn’t have those toys.

  • What a wonderful idea! My children, now with their own, were brought up to bring toys from their rooms but take them back when they went to bed. We did have a box that lived in the sitting room with a seat on it that originally had all the toys in it that they had but ended up with the bricks and small toys in. It still exists to this day 40-odd years later.

  • Sounds like your friend had a good idea. Of course I can see trouble if the new gift is huge and the kid doesn’t like the new gift as much as his or her old toys. I know I’d decide that in favor of the unwanted toy going to the shelter, but that could cause some problems with relatives expecting to see it prominently.
    We haven’t done anything so formal, but my grandkids’ rooms are tidy and there is a limit to how many toys can come down in the living room. My daughter picks out certain toys like books, blocks, colored pencils and such and keeps them downstairs. The rest stay in their rooms.
    They don’t have tons of toys like other people’s kids though. Their rooms are spacious and not all that cluttered, upstairs it’s mostly the stuffed animals and things. They have some, just not so much they can’t decide what to play with.
    I once lived with a couple whose young son had so many toys that he could not use his room and crashed out on the couch. It was scary to see that.

  • Wow. What an admirable system! I’m close to 22 but probably far from having kids because of.. You guessed it, health problems. It’s a terrible fear of mine that I just won’t be able to do it, to handle it. Yet this is another story that encourages me and although I do feel these people are doing pretty exceptional at being parents, I do dare to hope that it’s possible for me too one day.
    Thank you for sharing! This is an article that has many things to teach. I think I’ll need to come back several times to it to make it sink in! 😀
    God Bless you Christine and all those who come to this website, on purpose or by accident.
    ~Joanna