My husband and I differ in our ideas of what childhood toys should be. I’m thinking kiddie pools for wading in, sand boxes to dig in, chalk to draw with, and perhaps little people for a house to play in. My husband, on the other hand, is thinking Play Mobile (something that’s really fun to look at!), Legos, GI Joe figures, Barbie’s, and basically, anything that has little tiny pieces to it that can get scattered all over the house. We’re both working from our childhood memories except now we’re both parents and one of us escapes pick-up time by working at an office. Actually, even when I worked in an office at various times over the last 14 years that I have been a mother, I still come home to pick up and sort the toys. My husband would argue and say that he does the same, but it is impossible that he has spent the last 7000 days of his life picking up and sorting little toys as I was the one there and believe me, no one was with me. No one. The kids scatter and disappear. It’s really fun to look at toys in the catalogue and in the stores, to rip open the boxes, and to play with the toys for an hour (or if you are my son, for 20 minutes). No child really likes putting away those toys afterwards. Why put it anywhere but where you are playing with it? That’s a grownup concept and just doesn’t make sense. If you put it away, you have to start over the next day setting up the stage to continue where you left off with the story. Granted, you start to feel bored with that story so you move onto something else and pretty soon, you’re going to have to climb over the mountain of toys to get to the door. Still, the thought of putting something away is miles ahead of your time.
I happen to know this is at least the way one kid thought. I was and am still notorious for not wanting to put away my projects that I am working on. I would rather leave my work out if I’m not finished as it takes longer to set up than to actually work on it and as I have acquired more kids, thus having less time, I have become more aware that to re-set up a project sucks up a great amount of time. I know my husband’s workbench reflects the same idea and so I can’t really expect my kids to be any different. Still, when crayons are stepped on and ground in the carpet and there isn’t a clear path to the bed, it’s time to rethink things.
In 1999 I had my first yard sale. Unfortunately, I also visited many yard sales and thrift stores. The concept for me at the time wasn’t having less, but having different things for my children. I thought this was the way that they would stay engaged with their toys. When I learned that different didn’t mean better, I started working on the idea of having less. At the time I didn’t know that there was such a thing as a minimalist and although there was a “green” movement, it wasn’t as “mainstream” as it is today. Now it seems like the popular thought is to brag about how small ones house is or how little one has in material things (or at least in some circles).
Every summer since 1999 I have had one yard sale. In 2007 we moved from Silver Spring, Maryland to Norfolk, Virginia. The two packers that came to our single family 2000 square foot house spent the entire day packing. As evening slipped in, we opened the attic. I was shocked to find yet another room packed with more items. I knew that with two kids I needed to change my thinking. Even if we were going to have more kids, we needed to stop keeping stuff for that next baby, assuming we were going to have one. In 2008 I had a mega yard sale, then packed up most of our stuff, squeezed it into a storage unit, and downsized our living quarters to 500 square feet for 6 months. Two dogs, two cats, and two kids shared this space with me while my husband worked overseas. It was tight and quite the learning experience. Everything had to have its home. Just before my husband returned, we moved into a 1200 square foot home where we had yet another yard sale before we moved in. We lived there for another year.
Our 3rd child was born there and although it was a little tight, I was the happiest. No longer did I spend my spare moments cleaning and picking up a huge home. Without the extra space, I was forced to rethink of what we spent our money on as well as what could come into the house. It was the best time for me as I saw more of my kids, spent more quality time with them, and just wandered through life enjoying the simplest of moments. We painted. We played in the rain. We dug in the sand box. We swung on the tire swing. We went hunting for dandelions. We played with the dog. Even my husband sometimes joined in this fun when he wasn’t at work or watching his television shows. I walked to work. We walked to the library. We walked to the park. Life had become about moments, not materialism.
No comments:
Post a Comment