Why fewer toys will benefit your kids

With the school holidays on the horizon, it’s time for a detox. Not a kale-and-apple-cider-vinegar type detox, but a clear-out-stuff-in-our-home detox – much of it ‘stuff’ that belongs to my sons.

This morning I impaled my toe on a piece of Lego and my stumble somehow set off Ironman and a singing tractor.

My kids simply have too many toys. Toys they’ve grown out of. Toys they don’t play with anymore. Broken toys. Toys with no batteries. Even one or two they’ve never played with. Their play area is full to bursting and it’s making my mind feel cluttered too.

Of course, the boys are reluctant to let anything go. It made me think, am I being selfish? After all, just because I’d feel better with less of their stuff cluttering up the lounge doesn’t mean they’d benefit from donating half their toys to the Salvos…

But apparently the kids will benefit. In many ways.

Father, author and declutter advocate Joshua Becker makes a compelling case for ‘less is more’ in his article Why Fewer Toys will Benefit your Kids.

Of course, my sons will have a big say in what stays and what goes. Their ownership of the detox process will (hopefully) make it easier, but I may still meet with resistance. Now I can give them a dozen reasons why it’s a good thing to downsize the toy box, not just for me and my wounded toes, but for them.

Why Fewer Toys will Benefit your Kids

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