Hello everyone,
I hope you all had a lovely weekend and had a moment to relax. Now I am not going to talk for long, as today we picked up the keys to our new home and I need to be busily packing boxes for our move. I can’t wait until everything is its place at our new home and all the back breaking work is over.
I made a start at the weekend, getting rid of items I don’t want to bring with us to our new home. I managed to go through our garage and the bedrooms. My son’s room was the den of crap. He is a hoarder of toys, collector cards, books and bits ‘n’ pieces and although we go through the same ritual every 6 months getting rid of things, he still likes to gather a lot of rubbish. Now not everything went into the rubbish bin. Actually a lot of it is being recycled or reused. As long as the toys weren’t broken and had all their parts, they are going to our local op shop, along with five bagful’s of clothes (please stop growing kids!) and old tools.
Thankfully after our last few clean outs we got rid of a lot of the small gimmicky and often plastic toys you get from the likes of kids parties and McDonalds. I try to avoid getting these items, but when our children are with their friends it is a little hard to be the mean Mummy. But it made me think how much of these toys and other things do our kids collect? And do they really play with them? It is so wasteful, not only to the environment, but often they don’t contribute to kid’s activities. I’m sure I am not the only Mum that gets frustrated with these toys floating around the house.
So how do we avoid them? As my kids have got older it is easier to avoid these toys and also to explain to my son why he doesn’t need them. But I do know how hard it is to explain to younger children, like a three-year-old, why they shouldn’t have the latest my little pony keyring. You could avoid going to the likes of Macca’s (aussie slang for McDonalds) or Hungry Jacks (Burger King elsewhere). Regarding birthday parties, you could influence others to make a change by being creative at your own kids’ parties. Involve the kids in coming up with novel ideas for bits and pieces to go into their lolly/party bags. As well as adding healthy snacks why not prepare things such as:
Create puzzles or a game
A book (miniature books can be inexpensive and encourages reading)
Drawing pad and crayons
Craft set (wooden model set, knitting set, etc.)
Cooking set (prepare small portions of ingredients and cooking instructions)
And much more.
When we have introduced these to kids at our parties, they have been a real hit because they are different from the normal treats and kids find they have something show once they have completed the activity. Something they can be proud of.
I’m sure you have lots more ideas that you could share with everyone. We would love to hear your suggestions.
Anyway, I better be off. Lots more boxes to pack (groan!).
Have an earthly passionate few days.
Attracta & the team