The Condition of Having Too Much.
Sami’s birthday (the big 5 – a half decade!) is approaching quickly now, and there’s a lot to do to prepare.
And while her party is quite elaborate, I’m really talking about the space we have to make to fit a whole new year of kid into our house.
I asked Sami to go through and put some toys in a box that she doesn’t play with any more. She picked out one doll but said she wants to keep “everything else.” Mostly it just ended in a gigantic mess.
Phase II (aka Phase I of Doing It Right) has involved me sitting in her room for half hour spans putting like toys into separate containers. So the Little People Pirate Ship is in its own bag with all of the Little People that go with it. I’m only about half done, but jeez, this kid has almost all of five years worth of toys still in her room! Mostly from the last three years. Most of the baby stuff is gone.
Well, I’m looking at what I’ve done and what I’m asking Sami to do (I think we’re going to pick A Certain Number of Big Toys to keep, and garage sale everything else) and it’s kind of inspired me. Suddenly I’m executing serious fridge and freezer audits and weeding out single plates from sets we no longer use.
The teachable moment here isn’t, “Let’s dump our old toys because we’re getting new toys!” It’s, “There is a maximum of stuff that we can hold in our space and attention. Let’s try to match our space and attention.” And this is something I need to teach not just to Sami, but I need to master it myself.
Because just now I feel like my brain might explode from the condition of Having Too Much. May Sami learn it young.
Sphere: Related Content