The Struggle With Space and the Toybox of My Dreams
It’s been just over six months since our move to a new home with the space our family needed. When we expanded our square footage we thought space would no longer be an issue.
Why then, is it still an issue!?
Not that we don’t have enough space, because with the expansion of our home coupled with the loss of our daughter and all her equipment needs, now we have too much space. And in that “too much” space we just cannot seem to get it organized and keep it that way.
Or maybe it’s not really a space issue at all. Maybe it’s a mental part of the grieving process when you feel disoriented and disorganized and no matter how hard you try you just can’t seem to get your life “right?” Whatever “right” really is?
Moving forward but feeling more like I’m just shuffling stuff
After Harper passed away I immediately began the process of attempting to “move forward.” I knew right away I could not keep a shrine to her locked away in a part of our home never to be used again. I also knew I did not want to pack her away and shove her in a closet like she had never existed at all.
Harper is incorporated throughout many areas of our home in pictures and sentimental items. But some stuff needed to be stored. With my youngest sister preparing to graduate from college with her MBA, and us having the space, we offered her a place to stay until she was able to get out on her own. This meant it was time for another clean up. I moved Harper’s things that I could not part with closer to me in my own closet space. I expanded my clean and purge process into other areas of the home while I was at it.
The problem of freeing up space (when not everyone is on board)
The toy purge! An activity you absolutely cannot do when your children are with you. Items they have not seen (or thought of) in months suddenly become the most precious thing they have ever owned. I am reminded of the time when I cleaned Lily’s room with Harper looking on. At the end of the day Harper seemed very sad. As I was loving on her that night I asked if there was something we had gotten rid of in sister’s room that she wanted? To my surprise, she immediately nodded her head, “Yes!” Then I had to go through the long list of stuff I had purged to find exactly what it was she was wanting. We had to ask sister if she could have it. Turns out it was a red stuffed snake from Ikea!
The moral here is I meant what I said above….You Can NOT purge toys with ANY of your children around including the nonverbal, immobile ones. They too have feelings and desires and it’s much harder to decipher the reasons behind their sadness.
The questions of which toys to keep (for fun and organized space)
How can we reduce the clutter of toys to a reasonable amount of items actually used (and not stored and shuffled) while having enough to rotate to keep the excitement and fun going?
How can we keep the special needs child engaged with fun toys that are also helpful in increasing difficult-to-master physical abilities and mental awareness? All without having to store the various items used in accomplishing these goals?
The solution I found and our toy renting trial experience
The answer appeared on my computer screen a little over a week ago and I thought, “why not try it?”
Now I so wish we had known of this option when we lived in less square footage!
Pley.com!!!
What a revolutionary new way of keeping the excitement of toys in my children’s life while reducing the clutter! I signed up and sifted through over 500 toy options finally settling on the Tiggly Words game for the iPad. I felt, as a trial, this toy would be a good starting point to evaluate the success of this new concept seeing as the applications associated with this toy ranged from ages 2 through 8 years of age.
Ordering is easy but is dealing with toy rental a hassle?
Obviously it was easy to sign up. But how easy would it be when the toys arrived? Would there be lots of rules and having to keep everything together? With an application, would the instructions be too time consuming for me to actually download so the kids could use the toy?
I opened the box to find a neatly packed bright red mesh bag. There were clear instructions to install the app that took less than five minutes to follow. It actually took me longer to find our family iPad!
Thoughts on Tiggly Words for my kids
AGE 8
For Lily it was a bit of a review on vowels but some excellent reiteration of spelling and creativity.
AGE 2
Perfect at beginner navigation of the iPad and with learning of basic letters and sounds. Lily absolutely adored helping little brother Seth learn new skills.
SPECIAL NEEDS:
How do I think this game would have been for Harper and her special needs? PERFECT!!! The letters were sensory acceptable, smooth, sturdy and big. Harper could have felt them, traced them and picked them up even with her limited physical abilities. She would have enjoyed showing us the sounds she knew but could not speak.
But what if the kids love the rented toy and don’t want to send it back
One of the many great things about the toys at Pley.com is that if your children absolutely fall in love with a toy you can purchase the item to keep. Or another thought: instead of storing toys and having to remember to cycle them back out to play with before the kids outgrow them, let pley.com do that job for you. Send it back and two or three months from now rent that toy again.
From electronics, to Legos, to the newest American Girl Doll kits Pley.com is the toybox of my dreams.
I NEVER have to clean it up, organize it, or purge it! To me this is a fantastic way to keep kids, both typically developing and special needs, engaged and constantly interested with new toys to feed their creativity and stimulate growth.
For now the kids are still enjoying Tiggy Words but I’m already excited about the next toy pick when they get tired of this one.
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