Today I gave away all our toys. Ok, not all of them, but I got your attention, didn't I?
A few years ago, when I just had 3 children under 3 -- a 2 1/2 year old and a pair of 1 year olds -- I started trying to figure out just what they needed and what they didn't, and I ended up getting way too many things in our house. There were some power struggles over who got to play with any toy, and the babies were often placed in contraptions meant to keep them safe from our then-aggressive 2 1/2 year old son.
Fast forward a few years to 5-year old big brother, 3 1/2 year old little brother and sister, and 1 year old littlest brother and sister. Twins or no twins, boys or girls, the bottom line is I've just simply got a lot of kids.
And the stuff was driving me nuts. Your best friend if you have multiple kids? A big empty room -- even a garage.
I've also discovered by chance that sometimes the littler ones do really well with things that are meant for their older siblings.
Enter the Goodwill lego table with a box of duplos. Our littlest ones will stand at that table on both sides and drop legos in and out of it for literally hours. Just behind it is a window sill looking out into our front yard. On that silly are a few spaced out legos. Next to that window is an empty bookshelf. Every day a few things are placed on it -- an empty tin can, a wooden spoon, a piece of an old belt, or, more legos! Walk or crawl a few steps the other direction to our leather couch... with shoes tossed all over it. Hours of velcro fun. Hook a few shoes together and give each baby one end... whoohoo!
When older siblings are present, we give them the power to direct, create, interact. They build lego towers for 'twinzilla' to knock over. They set timers for the little ones to move from station to station. They play dress-up clothes and run around the room while the littler ones look on in awe.
The older siblings of course have big kid toys, but they spend a large amount of time in our relatively toyless family room/kitchen doing things like playing a sink full of 'dirty' kid dishes. Add something like a turkey baster for hours of bubbly fun. Also popular is pretending to clean -- rags and water go a long way in our home. For the tool-inclined, a safe-ish screwdriver and an old baby gate to take apart and put back together work miracles.
And, let's not forget actual helping:
In the house - our 3 and 5yr olds load/unload the dishwasher, make their own breakfasts (and ours -- I've eaten toast, string cheese and soymilk with frozen berries in it... ). They help prepare meals, grating cheese, cracking eggs -- buy a Sam's club size egg carton or 2 and let them practice.. scramble the eggs all up, and presto -- they've learned how to crack eggs and you have lunch. A stick of brussel sprouts and a dull butter knife are fun too.
They help fold and put away laundry -- yes, it takes a long time . They dress themselves. My kids go out often looking like bag ladies, or else my 5yr old wants to wear his 'dress pants' and a tie... usually hooked to a 'fancy' tshirt. People think I make him wear it.
They change diapers, prepare baby food, buckle/unbuckle carseats, fill sippy cups, and entertain babies in highchairs by running/screaming up and down the hallway.
In these times, you might find that less really is... well... more!
