Get Your Children to Organize Their Old Toys
It’s sometimes difficult to get children to part with their “stuff.” They’re possessive and it’s difficult for them to see the benefits of paring down and getting organized. But once they have the experience of order, they tend to like it. To start them on the right road, here are some tips:
1. Give children a place to keep their treasures, school papers, and artwork. Nice heavy cardboard chests are on the market just for that purpose, or you can use one of those plastic drawer units placed on a closet shelf. Make a deal that when it’s full they need to go through it and make space for new things.
2. Don’t ask them to throw out toys they’ve lost interest in or outgrown; ask them to recycle them. Make them a part of giving toys to the less fortunate. Visit the hospital or shelter where their former valuables are going so they have a clear picture of the good they’re doing.
3. Rotate toys periodically so that those of current interest are handy and those they’re less enthusiastic about go in less-accessible storage. Agree that when the “old” ones come back out after a designated period of time and if they’re still not interested in them, they get recycled to charity.