May

2

Too Many Toys, part 1

Posted by Commander Mommy

May 2, 2008 |

When I went to tuck the boys into bed last night, I nearly killed myself tripping over toys. My children know that there isn’t much Commander Mommy hates more than a messy room at bedtime. It just isn’t safe! I mean, what if there was a fire and I had to get them out? I doubt I could find their beds some nights. There is also the added frustration of all that money wasted. I mean, really. Come on. I don’t buy toys to walk on. I buy them so that I can play with them! This is, by the way, the secret to maintaining your sanity while spending quality playtime with younger children. Find the toys that you like, too!

Because I buy toys that I love to play with, it angers me to see them discarded and uncared for. Do you know how much money we’ve spent on my, erm, the kids’ Galactic Heroes collection? They’ve already lost Lando’s helmet and I can’t find him in the stores anymore! Not to mention Grievous’ lightsabers are permanently ‘turned off’ (read: broken) now because he was left out where my mom’s dog used him for a chew toy.

Mid-post disclaimer: Before everyone starts yelling at me, I know that they are kids. Kids are supposed to play with toys. They do. Frequently. That is why they wind up on the floor, remember? It isn’t the wear and tear that bugs me, it is the willful disregard for their toys that inevitably gets them broken I’m ranting about.

But enough ranting. Back to the point.

I’m cleaning their room today. This is the Ultimate Weapon in my arsenal of Evil Mommy Tricks (it even trumps the patented Glare of Doom). They know that when Mommy cleans their room, they lose toys. Last night I informed them that I would be cleaning their room and taking every single Star Wars toy away until their room started staying clean again. (When I said this, Little Man suddenly started begging Trooper to clean their room while he was at school. That boy is - *shakes head* - sometimes words fail me, but he makes me laugh and cry at the same time.)

I know this ‘punishment’ doesn’t sound mean and horrible but our home is not like most of my friends’ homes. I believe that all of a child’s playthings should fit neatly into their room (or a designated playroom). If there is too much for everything to have its own place, then there is too much. Period. My children have two large collections of toys (Star Wars and Thomas the Train), LEGOS, a trunk full of wooden blocks, and a few odds and ends. That is it. To take away their Star Wars toys is, admittedly, pretty severe but I’m sick of the mess.

I kind of feel like a MEAN Mommy right now but that’s okay, cleaning up after themselves and appreciating what they have is an important life skill to learn. It’s not like I’m throwing the toys away (this time)… I’ll just have my friends over this weekend and we can play with them instead. :)


Comments

6 Comments so far

  1. Jessica on May 2, 2008 12:00 pm

    I remember one of the worst days of my childhood - the day Dad “cleaned the room.” My sister an I had, well, WAY more toys than we needed, and Dad used a snow shovel to put everything he could see in a large garbage bag. I’ve never screamed so hard in my life. Torture, I tell you.

    Eventually, we got our toys back, but a new pack was made about a clean room, and we had a yardsale. (Unfortunately, many of the momento-toys I would have liked to had now wiht my son went in the yard sale. drat!). But I learned a few lessons from the experience: A) Being able to see the floor is important; B)Cry hard enough, my parents renig; C)getting rid of the old makes room for new.

    Hey - I didn’t say they were all GOOD lessons…

  2. Christopher Waldrop on May 2, 2008 6:11 pm

    I love the fact that you buy toys so you can play with them. At least they’re getting played with. I know some people buy toys and never take them out of the box. They keep them in pristine condition because someday they’ll be collectible. Well, the reason the pristine ones are collectible is because they get played with–and they should be! Doing your best to keep the toys from being broken is great, but I’m glad you’re not turning them into museum pieces.

  3. chopperpops on May 4, 2008 10:26 pm

    I think we need a little discipline levied on grown-ups too. Commander Mommy has given me inspiration to get tough with Choppermama. Next time I see the house messy, I’ll take her laundry away. (That should teach her, but if not, then the dirty dishes are next!)

    Keep writin’ & I’ll keep readin’.

  4. Carolyn on May 5, 2008 2:55 pm

    Chopperpops, you just aren’t right… LOL

  5. Dawn on May 6, 2008 5:06 pm

    Amen to the Star Wars toys, girl! If I have to move the furniture one more time to find C3P0’s head or Leia’s bounty hunter helmet, then they will become my toys. Although, one could argue that they are already Kidan’s toys. LOL!
    btw, I love reading your babble. :)

  6. Kyps Lola on May 9, 2008 9:19 pm

    I hear you girlfriend. My son’s legos have pretty much taken over his room and are now threating to converge on the rest of the upstairs.

    When he wanted more I allowed it, only if he would donate the toys he wasn’t going to play with anymore.

    They were all the toys I liked.

    So now all that’s left is legos I have to wonder what he’ll get rid of next so he can get the next wave of hot lego sets, his bed?

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