After the illusion of Christmas and the Three Wise Men, it is likely that your children have gathered with a lot of gifts and that your house looks like the toy section of a shopping center. Today children usually receive gifts at Christmas and Kings. What's more, It is common for both family and friends to want to give something to the little ones in the house since their faces of illusion are priceless.
Nothing happens, toys are beneficial for the entertainment, development and learning of our children. The problem comes when the mountain of toys is getting higher and higher and, instead of feeling excited, children end up being overwhelmed and stressed by so many gifts. It is what the experts call »The Syndrome of the Hyper-gifted Child». The child, faced with such magnitude of gifts, ends up going from one to another, without concentrating or really playing anything. This, in addition to favoring lack of concentration, imagination and boredom, It prevents our children from learning to value what they have and can become capricious and insatiable by getting things done effortlessly.
Of course, our children are not to blame. We adults who must manage both the quantity and the quality of the gifts they receive. Therefore, from Madres hoy, We give you some ideas for your children to enjoy their gifts and at the same time learn to value them.
What can we do if we have too many toys after Christmas?
Donate toys that are no longer used.
This is a good time to encourage your child to be generous and supportive. If he is older, you can make a selection of toys that are in good condition but that he no longer uses and take them to an NGO, hospital, school or even give them to a family member or friend. The important thing is to give them a second useful life and that your children become aware that with very little, other less favored people can be very happy.
Save and renew.
You can make a selection of toys and save those that they do not use either because they are not suitable for their age or because they have been bored with them. In this way, your house will be more clear and you can take them out throughout the year depending on the age and interests of the kids. In addition, this way they will always have the illusion of novelty and will not lose interest in them so quickly.
Share or exchange with friends.
It is very common that, despite having countless toys, they just fancy the one of the little friend. You can propose to your children to do a toy market in which each one takes what they do not use and exchange them with those of their friends as a barter. The change can be only a temporary or permanent loan, as they prefer. In this way they will have a fun time while learning values such as generosity, recycling and detachment from material things.
Play with the children.
We often think that by showering our children with material gifts, we can make up for the little time that we unfortunately have for them. It is common to see children with countless gifts, but sad and bored since they have no one with whom to share the novelty and excitement. Take some time to play with your children, get down on the ground with them and enjoy that cool toy that the Kings have brought them. In this way, you will help them to focus their attention on the game, to feel accompanied and you will avoid boredom.
These are just some ideas so that you can manage excess toys after the Christmas holidays, but surely you can think of many more. I hope they have helped you and above all, that both you and your children, enjoy many times of play, fun and laughter.
For example, I really like teaching my plump to place toys on shelves in a very montessori way. I have two shelves at his height so that he can have them within reach and placing the toys is part of his game.