Summary: Mr nearly-7 is beside himself with excitement over Santa’s visit. The great thing is that he is getting old enough to not get lots of little toys. The bad thing is that he is expecting more and more things – and not the less expensive things at that! The great thing is that I know Santa personally. I know this might surprise you but Santa and I go back a long way! So what did I do? I phoned him. Mr nearly-7 had a chat, told him what he wanted, and then passed the phone back to me. We caught up on old times and then I asked my jolly old friend not to bring lots of toys for Mr nearly-7 this year. Just a few good quality ones will do. So how do we set boundaries – when our kids are so good at pester power – and what’s the best way to keep a lid on your child’s exploding toy collection? A child’s bedroom or playroom only has so much space to store things in. Stick to these limits and expect your children to as well. Remember that your home is for everyone who lives there. Make sure you all have adequate space for all the stuff Santa brings you. Set boundaries throughout the year on the amount of toys that are purchased or come into the home. It’s never too late to cull and donate toys. There are many great charities that would appreciate the donation of good quality toys. Any dangerous or damaged ones should be thrown out. Work out where to store your children’s toys and set limits on the number of spaces toys live. Are they stored in your child’s bedroom, play room or somewhere else? Keep their location contained and expect your children to return the toys once they’ve finished playing with them. Know how to store the toys. Some come with special containers (eg boxes) to hold things in; others you will need to have storage for. Use the images from the box that came with the product to put on the front of the toy’s storage tub. This is a quick and easy way to create a system so your children know where toys go. If you’d like to see this in action we did a video on it for Clutter Rescue TV. All up we have three areas where Mr nearly-7′s toys are stored. The first is in his bedroom (where 80% of his toys are), the second is near the TV (for Playstation games) and the third is outside for balls, bats and outdoor play toys. If you’re expecting a toy explosion this Christmas the main piece of advice I’d love you to get from this is to set boundaries and set up a system. If you do that the next trick is to get your kids on board! So what do you think? What do you do to keep your children’s toy collection under control? Until next time, happy organising!
