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Jamberry77
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| Posted: March 26 2012 at 6:43am | IP Logged
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What questions should we ask ourselves and teach our kids on how to decide what to keep and what to toss?
My son wants to keep everything. Metal bits he finds on the street, the plastic tag from new socks, every paper towel tube, doo-dad toys from birthday parties, a drawing expressing friendship from his neighbor buddy.
How can I help him decide what to keep for a year, what to keep for a few years, and what to throw away now? We like to sing to him, "Find a piece of junk and put it in your pocket, save it for a boring day" (instead of "Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket...")
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Kelly, mom to 9th and 5th graders
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amyable
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| Posted: March 26 2012 at 8:54am | IP Logged
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My kids' "doo-dads" have to fit in a certain sized box. Once it's full I let them decide what to toss. Size of box is up to you! 
If they are having trouble deciding, I do help them see what would be a wiser choice with leading questions or suggestions, "Well, you could use those beads for a necklace, but I'm not sure what you could do with that stack of lollipop wrappers  , do you know? Which would you rather have?". Now, not everything needs to be "useful" but I do try to guide them towards which would be the most beautiful, useful, or loving to keep.
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of 
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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kristinannie
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| Posted: March 26 2012 at 12:22pm | IP Logged
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amyable wrote:
My kids' "doo-dads" have to fit in a certain sized box. Once it's full I let them decide what to toss. Size of box is up to you!
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This is a great idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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John Paul 8.5
Meredith Rose 7
Dominic Michael 4.5
Katherine Elizabeth 8 months
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 26 2012 at 12:42pm | IP Logged
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I have some "magpies" and I do think they need some help identifying some things as simply *trash*. I know I still have trouble identifying important papers from non-important papers (aka trash). So while I don't necessarily make them toss everything.. yes that ad with the pretty dolly from weeks/months/years ago really is just trash.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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DominaCaeli
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| Posted: March 26 2012 at 2:08pm | IP Logged
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My children each have a box for personal things as well. I file their important papers, schoolwork, special drawings, etc. in a file for them, we keep nature finds in a cabinet in the dining area to look at and sketch, and toys are kept in common areas and managed by me (they're still young). They are able to keep other things like trinkets, cards and notes, special rocks, little drawings and whatnot in their boxes if they do not want them thrown away. So far it has worked just fine.
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Celeste
Joyous Lessons
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SeaStar
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| Posted: March 26 2012 at 5:41pm | IP Logged
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Jamberry77 wrote:
What questions should we ask ourselves and teach our kids on how to decide what to keep and what to toss?
My son wants to keep everything. Metal bits he finds on the street, the plastic tag from new socks, every paper towel tube, doo-dad toys from birthday parties, a drawing expressing friendship from his neighbor buddy.
How can I help him decide what to keep for a year, what to keep for a few years, and what to throw away now? We like to sing to him, "Find a piece of junk and put it in your pocket, save it for a boring day" (instead of "Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket...")
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This describes my ds (9yrs) to a T. He is a collector. Everything is a "treasure", and letting go is very painful.
He has a shoe box for his treasures, but periodically I swoop through his room and remove all the tags, rocks, washers, paper airplanes, etc that aren't in the box. I throw away the obvious trash and then put the rest in a "holding bin" out of site. If he hasn't missed it after a few weeks, it all goes.
Just in the past 6 months or so he has gotten better about letting things go, so there is hope. A month ago he voluntarily went in his room and did a self-purge. And we can now put clothes that are too small right into the give-away bag without tears.
I think, with my ds, the volume of things kids are bombarded with these days is overwhelming. Everywhere they go they get stickers, plastic toys, goodie bags, etc. It is fun to get little gifts, so I can see how giving them up is hard, even if they have outlived their usefulness.
I try to teach my ds that it is natural to outgrow things and pass them on.
If you don't, you have no room for new treasures. And there will always be new treasures....
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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Topic: What to keep, what to toss
