Same Thing, But Different

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Making room.

Today is the day we head to the pile of toys and the boys help us make room for Santa. While TFBIM is putting up the tree and trimmings we are rummaging freely through toys that wer eagerly desired, received for Christmas 2005, and forgotten by New Year's Eve 2006.

Funny how doing this sort of thing elicits the following responses:

"So that's where it was!"
"But I lo-o-o-o-ove this!"
"No, I play with this a lot! Really! Like, all the time." (Which fails to address the inch-deep protective layer of dust.)

But, after 4 hours, we have a couple of trash bags full of for-all-intents-and-purposes-new toys ready to drop off for the poor kids. At first this exercise is akin to shopping in one's closet and distractions abound. But eventually things get serious and stuff gets excised. The question I keep posing is "It's not whether you like/play with/love this...it's whether whether you like/play with/love this enough to keep taking up space Santa Claus might need for that New PlayStation 8 or that Lego kit of the entire Star Wars universe."

Seen that way, altruism blossoms.

The main reason why we do this (besides of clearing out a cubic $#!+load of stuff) is to teach 'em that we all have an individual moral obligation to help others worse off than we are, and there are rewards for doing the right thing even if these rewards are deferred. These are things that, were we to just teach verbally, would take forever to sink in their little heads. But the doing speeds this along. Now--after the initial burst of recalcitrance--they get it and proceed. This is not to say they are saints. They still come up with a Christmas list which would tax Bill Gates' ability to defray, they still try to do all the usual things little boys like to do (i.e. lower property values) and so on.

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Last night we went out to dinner, celebrating my sister's birthday. A middle-aged couple started making out, like right there behind where my mom was sitting. It was funny because, while usually you might see two kissers kissing, this was one of those where there is definitely one kisser and one kissee. She was the kisser, and he the kissee (he wasn't doing much, but he wasn't fending her off with his dessert spoon, either). They were literally 6" behind my mom, who was directly in front of me. Since my sister was next to my mom, as people rearranged themselves to get in front of me for photographic purposes, I think I may have snapped 2-3 of the Centrum Silver Love Bandits. About the time our beverages arrived, they had hurried off.

-J.

Posted by Joke at 10:11 PM

6 Comments

MsCellania posted at 11:16 AM, November 27, 2006
Joke, how long have you been doing the Toy Purge? I think this is a wonderful idea - I may snap this one up for use this week. I will have The Daddy do this with the Dynamic Duo. He is much better with directed tasks.
We made the dressing and pie. Both were yummy! The pie, especially memorable. Thank you for sharing.

Joke posted at 11:52 AM, November 27, 2006
This is our third one, I think.

The important thing is to schlep the kids to wherever the toys end up going, so they see what it means to help others.

Glad the edibles worked for ya!!

-J.

Badger posted at 1:34 PM, November 27, 2006
We are big fans of the toy purge ovah heah. We do it approximately twice per year.

What we also do is give each kid five $1 bills for allowance every week. They have to put one dollar into a box for "savings", one into a box for "charity" (each kid has his/her own savings and charity boxes and puts the dollars in his/her own self) and three are for spending on whatevah.

Then they get to pick what to do with the charity money. In years past they've spent it on new kids' clothes (for which they shopped themselves) for the county clothes closet, various natural disaster relief organizations (Katrina, et. al.), and most recently the girl donated to the local children's hospital.

'Tis a Good Thing.

Joke posted at 1:54 PM, November 27, 2006
I'm a-steal that.

-J.

BabelBabe posted at 1:32 PM, November 29, 2006
yeah, yeah, toy purge, chairty, all good, blah blah blah - WHERE ARE THE PHOTOS?????

Joke posted at 8:25 PM, November 29, 2006
Been caught up with the TFBIM bash. Please stand by.

-J.