Many of you who have known me over the years know that one of my toughest organizing clients has been my own son. For a while there, the speed at which he was getting new toys, books, clothes and games far outpaced the speed at which old, neglected toys were leaving the house. That is a recipe for a huge mess! So over the years, I have experimented with different methods for getting him to part with his unwanted things, from garage sales to re-gifting to donating.
But this year, we hit on a GREAT solution! Here’s the article I wrote for PDX Parent about it.
Let’s face it, it can be really hard to get kids to part with their old, neglected toys. The minute you suggest the toys might be ready for Goodwill, your kid whips out the toys, blows off the dust that’s accumulated on them and start playing with them like it’s Christmas Day. You’re not fooling anyone, kiddo.
That’s why I was so thrilled when we found a solution for convincing my son to let go of his old toys. A consignment store called Give and Take opened up in our neighborhood a couple of years ago, and Nathan and I enjoyed browsing for low-cost treasures inside. One day, when Nathan found some toys he liked for sale, I seized my moment and pointed out to him that these were other kids’ toys that he was going to buy, and these kids would receive a few dollars for every toy of theirs that sold here.
“Could I sell my toys here?” he asked.
“You sure could,” I said, trying not to sound overly excited.
Boy, was Nathan hooked after that. You could almost see the dollar signs flash in his eyes as a slow grin worked its way across his face.
Visit www.PDXParent.com to read the rest of the article.
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