Cary Farrell
919-630-7909

Letters to Santa

by Cary Farrell
December 01, 2012
It's that time of year when the kids who normally hate to write look for paper and pencil to write that a letter in hopes to get new toys and gadgets.  And we as parents want to make our kids happy by giving them what they want.  We love the excitement of the new toys just as much as the kids do!  Many of us remember our own childhood Christmases and want to relive them with our kids or make them better than we had.  Getting new gifts is so exciting that we forget to stop and take inventory of what the kids already have. Or we have such fond memories of our kids reaction over the toys that we want to hang onto the toys to remember the joy they brought!
 
However, just a day or two after Christmas we look around the house and our frustration level rises quickly because we can't manage to walk through the house without stepping on toys and the kids are claiming that they are bored with nothing to do!  When  we ask the kids to clean up,  they have a melt down because they are overwhelmed with their mini Toys R Us! As parents we are angry that they are so unappreciative of all we have given them and blame the kids for the chaos in our homes! 
 
In our Christmas excitement we don't stop to really think about what we are doing as parents that is the real foundation of the chaos in our homes.  As parents we need to take the lead in setting realistic limits on what our kids can handle.  This is one area where less is more!  Less toys means more peace, easier clean up and more imagination.  In all the families I have worked with  parents are always shocked to discover how few toys their kids really play with or need to have access to to be happy.  
 
Human nature always wants more.  Your job as parents is to realize and teach that more is not always best.  There is such a thing as Too Much of A Good Thing!  If you feel overwhelmed at the thought of cleaning up your kids toys then you have over loved them and you are the problem for the toy chaos in the house! 
 
Don't let the holiday fun blur your vision and don't blame your kids for being human!   Help your kids by limiting the number of toys they have to clean up and teach them how to do it themselves as they grow!  Then give them a realistic number of toys to add to their Santa letter.
  
For more details in how to reclaim your home from Toys R Us and to help your kids manage their toys, check out my blog post, Toys, Toys, Toys!