Why I prefer to give trash to my kids?

With so much of consumerism it is hard to decide on which toy to buy. While kids seem to love everything it is absolutely not possible to buy the whole store.

Believe it or not, children not only love repetition but are also equally passionate about new stuffs. That is why each time when we stop to run errands we get bombarded with pleas followed by tantrums for toys, books and other things. We then go into hindsight mode that today’s generation are much more adamant and are less grateful compared to ours. But that’s not true. Children are just curious about various things, they are learning hands on and through practical experiments. Now when we were little, we perhaps got that freedom by being in the woods all day or just playing with friends in the neighborhood. We explored without realizing that it’s going to be a privilege one day. So what do we do? We got to keep them safe, we got to protect our carpets and we are responsible for keeping our home in order. To achieve that we don’t have to curb creativity or say no to everything.

Like every parent I was in a dilemma of how to encourage my kids without being wasteful. And then one fine day I noticed that children love new stuffs but that does not mean brand new toy or book from the store. Your old packaging box, broken jewelry, unwanted crayons, magazines, kitchen waste and so on are equally intriguing. And in that moment I decided to give trash to my kids every single day. You might want to spend a little to clear up an area for them, could be your basement, garage or a room. Cover your floor & tables with waterproof mats and non toxic foam, customize the way you want. And then just sit back to watch awesomeness being unfolded. You would be surprised to see that most of the time it keeps your little ones busy more than a $20 toy would do. And as a parent you are mentally prepared to see chaos or spills in that assigned area. It also makes clean ups easier since children have a sense of ownership that it’s their workplace. And you will joyfully pitch in as well to clear off if needed.

So if you are stressed out cleaning & keeping your kids busy then it’s time for you to think before you throw something out and instead give it to your budding scientists. Because happy kids equals happy family!