Please bring in The Negotiator
Today was the day the truck arrived to haul away NOS's old toys that he agreed to donate in order to make room for the new stuff he was going to get on his 8th Birthday. This is a lovely procedure that has manifold benefits:
1- Teaches the child charity
2- Teaches the child to prioritize
3- Keeps the room from overflowing with useless merde, and
4- Gets rid of the reminders of money wasted--nay, pissed away--on toys that got a whopping 2 hours of cumulative playtime in their long career with our son(s).
The hardest part of all this is doing it the 1st time. There WILL be much wailing and gnashing of teeth and I can see where a lot of parents would just up-and-surrender. But I am not a lot of parents. This all started when NOS's room at our old house looked as if a hospital for toys had done blowed up. Since TFBIM was doing some tax conference thing and couldn't exert a calming influence, I was able to be as strict as I felt was warranted. The choice was: Anything not in it's place by bedtime will be tossed away OR you can save the aggravation of it all and donate toys to make room for new stuff.
Wail, wail, gnash, gnash. I kept thinking "Your mom/grandparents aren't here to cave in, kid. You're SOL, NOS." as he whined and tantrumized*. It was only when I started tossing things into a black garbage bag that he realized his old man wasn't jacking around. He weepily parted with favorite toys he had never bothered to play with, looking at them longingly. But then Christmas rolled around and he got a fresh supply and all was good.
Among the casualties today were:
This year someone wanted to gve NOS an electric scooter. NOS rarely uses the "manual" style, and when he does it's only to go as fast as humanly possible. Do we really need another piece of clutter in the garage? One that gets minimal play EXCEPT to hurtle this lad around the street at 20mph? Several other suggestions came my way and I am pleased to have shot them all down. Birthday came and went, and NOS was happy with the stuff he got and never peeped about what he didn't.
But he was still trying to rescue as much junk from the box on our doorstep as he could.
-Joke
* I have a superhero power of being able to to tune out crying, whining, tantrums, etc. Imagine if I got those Bose headphones...
1- Teaches the child charity
2- Teaches the child to prioritize
3- Keeps the room from overflowing with useless merde, and
4- Gets rid of the reminders of money wasted--nay, pissed away--on toys that got a whopping 2 hours of cumulative playtime in their long career with our son(s).
The hardest part of all this is doing it the 1st time. There WILL be much wailing and gnashing of teeth and I can see where a lot of parents would just up-and-surrender. But I am not a lot of parents. This all started when NOS's room at our old house looked as if a hospital for toys had done blowed up. Since TFBIM was doing some tax conference thing and couldn't exert a calming influence, I was able to be as strict as I felt was warranted. The choice was: Anything not in it's place by bedtime will be tossed away OR you can save the aggravation of it all and donate toys to make room for new stuff.
Wail, wail, gnash, gnash. I kept thinking "Your mom/grandparents aren't here to cave in, kid. You're SOL, NOS." as he whined and tantrumized*. It was only when I started tossing things into a black garbage bag that he realized his old man wasn't jacking around. He weepily parted with favorite toys he had never bothered to play with, looking at them longingly. But then Christmas rolled around and he got a fresh supply and all was good.
Among the casualties today were:
- A Thomas The Tank train table that has never even SEEN a TTT piece, nor a moment's play in 3 years. TFBIM swore up and down it'd be the sensation of the year, but I expect she got it because her Bro. & SiL got one for their kids--who didn't play with it either--andshe couldn't resist being left out. It only cost $200 and took up 24 cubic feet of space for two years.
- A Hulk pinball machine. Not something you'd find at any self-respecting arcade, but rather, something that a certain piping, childish voice mentioned ONCE. It got turned on once every couple of months.
- Big wooden puzzles. I think there was sentimental value attached to these, but that quickly evaporates when they are flung on the floor as children tunnel in search of cooler toys.
- Spider-Man video camera. $115 misspent by Santa on something that sucked so badly you'd think it was a Dyson.
- A gallon of markers. 90% of these have never seen paper, but they HAVE seen walls, rugs, doors...
- A Harry Potter "Potion" kit. Kids! You too can make stuff that tastes like warm, flat off-brand soda!
- FIVE really cheap RC cars and airplanes. The kind that, at best, work they day you take them out of the box.
This year someone wanted to gve NOS an electric scooter. NOS rarely uses the "manual" style, and when he does it's only to go as fast as humanly possible. Do we really need another piece of clutter in the garage? One that gets minimal play EXCEPT to hurtle this lad around the street at 20mph? Several other suggestions came my way and I am pleased to have shot them all down. Birthday came and went, and NOS was happy with the stuff he got and never peeped about what he didn't.
But he was still trying to rescue as much junk from the box on our doorstep as he could.
-Joke
* I have a superhero power of being able to to tune out crying, whining, tantrums, etc. Imagine if I got those Bose headphones...
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