What they don't know can't hurt them ... at least most of the time.

Occasionally, I just feel the need to purge stuff from the house. Things get to feeling cluttered and unlivable, and so it's time to clear some of it out. More often than not, this has a lot to do with the kid's toys. With birthdays, Christmas, generous friends and doting grandparents, sometimes it seems like the kids have more toys than they know what to do with. I've known kids (fortunately not mine) who actually had so many toys that they had a separate room just to catch all the stuff that overflowed from their rooms. In our house, though, when the boys get to digging through a huge toy box full of things and start complaining about how they can't find what they're looking for, Mommy usually decides it's time to clear out the clutter.

Most of the time, it happens when the older two boys are at school. It isn't necessary, perhaps, but the truth is it makes my life a little easier. I can drag everything out in the floor and make an honest assessment of what they usually play with, without having to hear "Oh, WOW! I forgot we had that!" and having three pairs of hands in the middle of things. I usually don't eliminate large numbers of toys at a time, but I weed out things that they are outgrowing or don't play with, and pitch stuff that is obviously broken beyond repair. Sometimes, just the act of putting things where they BELONG, like the Hot Wheels-type cars in their storage boxes instead of in the toy box, can work wonders. After this morning's clearing, we no longer have toy box that is full almost to bursting, but one that's only about 2/3 full. It makes me feel much better.

Of course, when the kids get home, one of two things will happen. The first possibility is they will not even notice that I've cleaned the toy box out, and go on happily about their business. This is always the nicer of the two options, for obvious reasons. The other possibility is that they'll come home, dig through the toy box, and holler "Hey Mom! Where's _____? I can't find it!" I'll probably have the urge to shake my head or roll my eyes, wondering why they suddenly felt the need to find a toy they haven't played with in 6 months, and then I'll have to tell them that I cleaned out the toy box and took out some stuff they weren't playing with.

Fortunately, most of the time when that happens, they pretty much take it in stride, especially when they're reminded that it's not all that long until Christmas, or birthday, or whatever rolls around again. I try to teach my kids to be thankful for the things they have, and willing to part with things they don't need so that other folks can enjoy them. So I pack up all the outgrown/unused stuff in storage boxes and put it out in the garage for our annual yard sale. The kids will come out and look at things and say, "Hey, I remember that!", play with it for a minute or two, and then put it back down for the sale. And I'll be thankful, because I know they're growing up.