Why I Am Pro-Toy

Yesterday, a friend of mine posted a link of a blog post about a mom who took away all of her kids toys because her kids were always asking for new toys. So she took away all of their toys and even took away the comforter off of their beds. My friend had a posed a question, was this abusive? You can read the whole article here but while it's not abusive, I think it's mean.

Emily does have a lot of toys. Probably more toys than she needs, but for the most part she plays with most of them on a regular basis. We do purges of toys every once in a while, mostly at this point the toys that she's too big for get sold.

We have always treated Emily as her own person, and her toys are hers. Most she got from us or as gifts, but some she has used her own money to buy. They are her things and she would honestly have to do something really bad to have them all taken away.

Usually when she does do something that is punishment worthy, we take away screen time. No TV, no iPad, that sort of thing. At that point, I want her to have access to her toys so she can play. It's still a punishment but it also doesn't leave her with absolutely nothing to do.

Besides, it's not really nice to have my own toys and deny her own. We have a stuffed animal addiction throughout our family. Emily has a ton, in part because she has gotten several that were mine and Todd's when we were kids. Todd and I also have our own stuffed animals even now that we sleep and cuddle with.

When Emily's room became overfilled with stuffed animals, we made her a deal. If she wanted to get a new one, she had to pick three or four old ones to give up. This way we were all happy.

Toys are fun and a part of childhood. Emily uses her imagination to make up stories with her toys. For that reason, even though my house is full of toys, I will always be for toys.