Toy explosion

This is my fourth Christmas since having my son, and I thought I'd become used to the fact that the influx of toys (including his birthday presents) meant some major reorganisation.  I even prepared a little in advance for it this year, buying a bunch of fabric baskets and making plans for where I could put new storage units.

What I failed to grasp was that having two children was going to make the chaos that much worse.  I got a Kindle for Christmas, and I haven't even touched it yet, since I've been too busy trying to find a place for everything new!

In retrospect, I should probably have taken this into account when drawing up the children's Amazon wishlists (with most of our family abroad, this is the easiest way for them to send gifts).  With my daughter in particular, I felt she didn't need many baby toys, because she'd inherited all of her brother's.  So I focused on other things that she would get some enjoyment out of now but would have more value as she grew older.  For example, the crawl-through tunnel.  She adores tunnels, and this is something that both children will be able to play with for years to come.

Downside of this is that such presents tend to be large.  The tunnel might fold down flat, but it's not exactly something I can put on a shelf!

Still, it's been fun.  I've gone a little stir-crazy at times, but it's been fun playing with everything, and I'm definitely making progress with where everything's going now.

One benefit to the reorganisation chaos is that we've had a lot of empty storage tubs floating around, and I've been able to observe my daughter spontaneously and happily transferring toys from one tub to another on several occasions (also, posting her little playpeople through the handles).  That's a fun little milestone!

Today it finally occurred to me to use this activity to my advantage, and I put an empty bin by the table where we have our Fisher Price nativity set.  My daughter likes to take Mary, Joseph et al and drop them one by one onto the floor before scooting off to the next interest.  I'm hoping that she'll start dropping them in the tub instead.  Best case scenario: once they're all collected in the tub (instead of skidding across the hardwood floor), she might then put them back on the table.  Otherwise, at least they won't be strewn across the floor.

One thing I always tell people is that they don't have to stick to the wishlist.  I love putting it together, researching the kind of toys I value and know how to get the most out of, but I don't want my children to miss out on something because I hadn't seen it or didn't think much of it.  One of my big beliefs is in multiple adult influences; I'm the primary caregiver, the guiding voice, but I want my children to be exposed to several points of view.

The drawback of my principles is that after every Christmas / birthday, I always have to deal with the fact that my children have received toys that I consider a complete waste of space.  I have very firm views on what does and doesn't constitute a good toy (as I expect most parents do), so it's a struggle to see the kids playing with something that makes me wince.

Still, however much I might hate it, the kids generally love it, and I don't want to over-rule them about toys unless it's something that I genuinely consider morally objectionable (hasn't happened yet, though I suppose it might do as they get older).

Case in point, the Big Loader.  This is a bit of a cheat, as I don't really hate the toy, but this was one my husband picked out, so he knows my objections to it already, and thus I'm free to make them public.

Anyway, my husband had this toy as a child, and he was suddenly reminded of it shortly before Christmas.  He promptly bought it for our son, despite my objections that we already had presents for him.  It's a fascinating little toy, but it's entirely motorised.  You switch it on and watch it.  I felt that at this age, our son was better served with toys that he could push around the track, not to mention the small parts problem with a mobile and curious baby.

My fears proved fully justified as one of the first things my son did once he figured out the on/off switch was to turn it off and carefully manoeuvre the vehicle through the complete cycle by hand (something that it's not designed for, which means a lot of dropped balls).  Meanwhile, whenever it's out, I spend half my time hauling my daughter away from it, and how we haven't lost one of the smaller-than-a-marble balls by this time, I don't know.

On the other hand, my son loves it.  My husband gets a kick out of playing it with him.  Also, this is one toy that my husband picked out himself, something that he doesn't get to do very often, and this is the wrong season to deny anybody the pleasure of giving.  And while the practicalities of it are causing me a great deal of stress, even I am hypnotised by the thing once it gets going.

In the end, they're having fun and that's the main thing.  I don't want to confine my children to my view of appropriate play, so even though I'm a dyed in the wool toy snob, every toy we're given will be put out on the shelf to be played with.  I'll probably have to do a Goodwill run eventually, due to the sheer number of them now, but I'm determined not to give away anything they actually play with.