I am tired of sorting. I feel like my life has become an endless pile to sort. Maybe I'm just feeling pessimistic because my children have far too many toys. Last Christmas my sister in law gave them each a toy organizer which has small boxes. The kids have had a lot of fun with those boxes. They like to dump the toys on the floor and build walls with the boxes. They like to dump out the toys and make soccer goals. Then I get to sort all the dumped out toys and put them away. P. is good at helping me sort. He's a sorter, too. Like his mother, he sees a pile of toys on the floor and feels mostly panic. But if you assign him one specific item, like pick up the lincoln logs, he happily complies. His sister just flat out refuses to help and when threatened with toy removal, happily quips that she'll just get more for Christmas and her birthday(I've had the majority of her toys bagged up for over a month now, she hasn't missed them. Now they just might disappear.)
So as I was sorting toys this morning, I had an epiphany of sorts, or maybe it was just a realization. I am tired of sorting. I dream of a day when everything has a place to be put away. When there are no superfluous boxes of random items one of us is holding on to just because. I dream of a day when my mind only has one thought at a time so I don't have to sort through all the noise to find the thought which is most pertinent for the moment.
I have been seriously pondering the idea of living only with essentials. But that begs the question, other than food, shelter and clothing, what is essential?
What do you think is essential for our modern life? What do you think you couldn't live without?
2 comments:
Books.
And therein lies the rub.
Hey, books can be used for unsulation against the walls! That's two uses. The same cannot be said of the TV.
I suggest going down to one favorite toy per kid and one group set that they all enjoy and see how much they specifically request back.
Maybe Christmas gifts can be things like crayons and pencils that get used up all the time or other craft and learning items like magnets and microscopes that can be put up and pulled out for determined lengths of time. .. or, better yet, museum/zoo memberships!
I'm gradually phasing out many of the kids' toys and they really don't notice. I'm with you on too much stuff. It really gets to the point where they aren't at all grateful because they think stuff is the status quo.
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