The “Keep Safe” box
My boys have a huge closet. This closet is full of shelves, more shelves than two boys need. I appropriated the topmost shelf, which they can’t reach anyway, for my craft storage. This is all well and good, except that my boys floor has been a disaster for weeks and yesterday I had to get into the craft supplies. The sound of toys crunching under my boots was the last straw. I stalked out of the room and returned with plastic bags.
I try to honor the property rights of my children. But there are limits. When their stuff no longer fits onto the shelves something has to go. I started by collecting a bag of outgrown shoes. Then I collected a bag of garbage. Then I collected three stacks of books. Then I collected a bag of toys that never get used, but get thrown onto the floor because they’re on top of toys that do get used. Once I’d hauled all of that out of the room, I could see where to begin. There was much sorting to be done.
One of the key problems in the boy’s room is that Link is a keeper. He needs reasons to get rid of things. I am not a keeper. I have to have reasons to keep things. Time after time I would hold up an object trying to negotiate. He never uses it, it is just in the way. Link would get wide-eyed and insist that this construction paper house was truly important. I had spread these treasures out on the floor so that we could see them clearly. I really wanted to be able to scoop the whole mess into the trash, but I didn’t. Instead I took a moment and looked again with Link’s eyes. The objects were all transformed into things with massive play potential. True he didn’t play with them much, but he might play with them. They might be the essential component to an as yet uncreated game.
We compromised. I got a file box and told Link it was his keepsake box. He charmingly transformed this into “Keep Safe box.” That was the label we put on the side. Then we put in the box all of the things that Link does not use, but that he is not ready to get rid of. The box will keep them safe and they will not be cluttering his room. The box went under the bed. Six months or a year from now, we’ll haul it out and Link will find new joy in his forgotten treasures. By then he’ll have acquired new treasures that he wants to keep safe. At that point he’ll have to make some decisions, because he is only allowed to have one “keep safe” box and the box is completely full. If he has more things to keep safe, he’ll have to decide what needs to go. It shouldn’t be too hard because that empty egg carton he put in there takes up a lot of space.
Now the boy’s room is clean. I can reach the craft supplies. More important, the boys can find the toys they like to use, because those toys are no longer buried under the detritus of games past.