My McGyver Girls

Roughly three years ago, we moved into this house. It is twice the size of the one we owned just prior. The floorplan suits our lifestyle beautifully and is better than we would have thought to design for ourselves, so I am truly grateful and completely contented with it. However, bigger isn't necessarily better for all the reasons I assumed it would be. When managed poorly, it can just be a lot more responsibility to tidy and keep clean.

On the main floor of our house, we have a second master bedroom which has been serving as a playroom, and very occasionally -- a guest space. In the relatively short amount of time we have lived here, it has been revamped time and time again, all in the name of keeping down the clutter. Silly me! I thought an oversized space dedicated to toys and play would keep the toys and play in the oversized space! Not so. Babies and children want to be where the action is, and the action is wherever Mom is. Isn't that sweet? Exhausting, but truly sweet. I won't trade it, so I've chosen to manage it.

O.k., it's taken me all these years to get, but I finally understand that the best way to manage mess is to make less mess possible. The way to keep down the possibility is to keep down the availablity. All that to say: I'm tossing the stuff! So much stuff! We have gone from two sets of tall shelves filled with toys, down to five 3-drawer plastic bins, down to three 3-drawer plastic bins, down to no toys readily available except stand-alones like baby strollers and a tea cart.

Somehow though, my little girls still manage to leave an almost-empty room in tatters. They are a couple of mini-McGyvers, making playthings out of whatever they find: discarded boxes become baby cradles, tissues become baby blankets or doll diapers, laundry baskets with couch pillows are ornate carriages and a pair of tights can become a fancy head-dress. I like it best when they play outside though; it does my heart good to see children swinging for the tree-tops or collecting rolly-pollies. Most of the mess they can make out there is organic and just fades into the landscape.

Keep the bar low, I always say. I'm glad to be rid of toys that tempt a steady diet of flashing lights and bells and whistles, activities that require costly equipment and hyper-scheduling that leaves no two consecutive hours unplanned. As it is, my girls always find something to do with their playtime, and haven't developed the habit of saying, "I'm bored." My post picture shows what happens when I leave my children alone to play after taking most of their toys away. They have fun wherever they go. It's good to be a child in the '50s.