Cleaning up my daughter's clothing was easy. There wasn't a lot of sentiment involved, it either fit or it didn't, was winter or summer. Sorting through the rest of the content's of her room is proving much more difficult. Take stuffed animals. As I was hanging clothes up in her closet, I asked her to go through her stuffed animals and give away those that maybe someone else would love a little more. Like Paddington Bear. Paddington is not cuddly, he's rather big and very stiff and she was never that enthralled by the stories, nor had I ever seen her really play with him. So I mentioned that maybe Paddington could find a new home. When I turned around from the closet to look at her, there she was, holding on to poor Paddington for dear life, her big eyes filling with tears. "But I love all my animals, Mommy." Yeah, I'm a push over, though we did manage to toss the falling apart buffalo, and he was large.
As a parent, I've learned to pick my battles, and before pushing her further, I decided to surf the web for some stuffed animal storage/display ideas. I found three possibilities.
A toy hammock that you hang above the floor:
Pros: inexpensive, easy to just throw everything in there.
Cons: Not sure where I'd hang it in the room (sloping ceilings), and it's not that attractive.
The Zoo:Pros: Seems to hold a lot, and yet keep them accessible.
Cons: Expensive and not that attractive, more of a jail than a zoo. Plus, I don't really want another piece of awkward furniture in the room.
There is a make yourself version for those with more ambition than me.
And The Animal Bag:
Pros: My daughter wants a cozy reading nook with a bean bag chair, could we could kill two birds with one stone?Cons: Expensive, but I managed to find it on sale for $49.95 and free shipping.
My daughter really liked the animal bag idea, so I've ordered it. The deal is she cannot have more stuffed animals than can fit in there, except for her big teddy bear and penguin and, of course, Paddington. Fingers crossed it works out.
On to the next big space eater, books.
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Good idea. No one should have to throw out teddies, I used to keep hundreds inside my divan as a child. My ma said I couldn't possibly love them all, so I documented their names and birthdays etc. She eventually got rid of them after I moved out! I think it would be a nice idea to keep them all in a toy crib too. My ds keeps his in a cubby in his wardrobe, and several favourites on the bed. Sometimes there are too many on there,
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, I am currently going through the process of Keep/Toss etc.. But we have WAY too many toys in general!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Toy control is an ongoing problem. As is book and clothing control for us. But now we do have a place for everything even if everything isn't usually in its place.
ReplyDeleteThe animal bag has worked out great and is still going strong.