Camp Chuck-It

I have recently begun to realize (or remember) how much clutter young kids can accumulate. While my own kids seem to keep their collecting at bay now, they used to have so many little things - Barbie shoes, Lego pieces, and bouncy balls (how I could not stand those things!). I recently helped my cousin in Maryland organize her small playroom, and was amazed by how many parts come with each doll! My cousin's first words were, "I am so overwhelmed, I don't know where to start, and I don't think I can do this". Their closet was actually blocked by toys, and both my cousin and her husband admitted to not really going into that closet for a long time (the amount of which I did not push to know), so didn't really know what was in there.

I remember when I got a Barbie, she came dressed (whew!), and maybe had a nice accessory, like a handbag, or if I was lucky, a little jacket. I will not talk about how very hard it was to dress a Barbie now, but will say that due to my lack of strength or fine motor skills, those Barbie dolls wore the same thing for weeks. Ken had no idea, as he was wearing the same jogging suit he came in for 2 years, until my sister bought him a tuxedo. He wore this outfit for the rest of his life in my toybox, as he always looked dashing, even at the beach.

NOW there are American Girl dolls, and Bratz dolls, Groovy Girls, all in addition to Barbies. My cousin has a set of 7 year old twins, one of which can let go of items she no longer needs with ease, while the other, well, struggles with this. She was, however, open to reason - such as the argument that if she saves all of her Americal Girl Doll boxes (just because they are pretty), then that leaves no room for the Horse Farm and Animal Bin. And if she had to choose, and she did, she favored the animals. We did compromise and keep the boxes, all stored within each other, in the basement, all safe and sound.

We also came up with our zones for everything in the room, like the dress up area, the doll area, and of course, the learning area (this had educational games and books), ending up with the game shelves. I encouraged my cousin to use as much vertical space as possible, but making sure that the girls could reach the items safely. We got rid of broken games (Mouse Trap inevitably ALWAYS gets tossed when I organize - a piece is perpetually missing or broken from everyone's game), toys, and old craft projects, and said goodbye to 70% of their McDonald's toys (yeah!!!!!). What made them decide to give so much away? Charity. Good, old-fashioned charity. As soon as I told the girls that some other little girls didn't have anything to play with at all, they instantly made quick decisions, and had a donate pile a mile high. Pride was bursting from my little cousins, and honestly, from me too. Did they have too much? Yes. Did they keep too much? Probably. But they sure did a great job! Here are some tips that are tried and true with kids:

• Don't make them work too long. Take fun breaks (play with a game they found!)



• Play music, and make it fun. Adults like music too, by the way.



• Keep talking about how often they have played with or used an item to help them decide



• Tell them that by giving something they don't love anymore away, that someone else will benefit.



• Congratulate them on each decision they make- even if it is to keep an item - so that this process will not be difficult in the future. Give them lots of praise for being realistic about their items too.



• If they decide to let go of an item, don't ask them if they are "sure", especially if it was something with emotions for YOU attached. I know that that Barbie dress with the holes in it was yours when you were little, but it has HOLES, and they DON'T use it. (You don't like wearing clothes with big tears in them, and neither does Barbie.)