WFMW--Limiting Kids" Toys

In this post-holiday season, many families find themselves up to their ears in toys. And the house looks like Toys-R-Us after a tornado. How do you corral the clutter?

Granted, our son is still a baby, and we'll have to adjust as our family grows, but my husband and I have a set of ground rules to limit the toy invasion from the outset. They are based on how we remember our childhoods, in which we were both inundated with toys. For us, it was actually a nuisance to have too much:

• Too many toys are hard to keep track of, even for a kid.
• It makes room cleaning overwhelming, and so less likely to happen.
• It makes a clean room look cluttered and disorganized.
• Since most of our toys were given to us, it made it really difficult to see a new toy as a gift to be appreciated rather than as more junk that we had to deal with.

So here are our ground rules. They are based on a larger philosophy about stuff, and of course will vary according to the circumstances and values of different families. And, as always, the most important thing is for both parents to be on the same page!

1. Toys need to be high quality (this does not necessarily mean expensive!). I personally want to avoid plastic toys, because I find them really annoying to step on. Plastic also tends to shatter when it breaks, and produces sharp and jagged edges. We also want to avoid the well-publicized problems with Chinese-made toys. So, nothing from China, and preferably wooden toys.
2. Toys either need to be versatile (blocks, for example) or reality based (play food). If junior wants to play at being a knight slaying a dragon, his imagination needs to do the work!
3. Nothing electronic: no video games; no computer games; no light-up, noise-making critters (see rules 1 and 2). Obviously, this we will ease up on this as Ezra gets older and needs to learn how to use electronics, but this will be more a matter of utility than entertainment, and computer use will be within a structured context (learning to type, navigate the Internet, etc.)
4. All the toys must fit in a designated area of a limited size. Right now, all of Ezra's toys go in a small suitcase. While the container will be larger in the future, the principle will remain. If the suitcase is overflowing, it's time to get rid of something. But the idea is that it should never take more than five minutes (ten at the outside) for your child to clear the floor.
5. With regards to rule 4, toys must be purged twice every year. For us, that will be the week before his birthday (in January) and the beginning of July (six months later). For most families, I would recommend the week before the birthday and the week before Christmas. This is also an excellent opportunity to instill prioritizing in your child along with a sense of charity.
6. Most toys belong to the family, not the child. While some toys will be child specific either because of sentimental value or they were gifts associated with a particular relationship, most toys must be shared among siblings. So while, Ezra has sole use of the toys now, the set of blocks we own will have to be shared with future children. We will not buy duplicate toys just so each child can have his own.

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