This week on the Xo Parenting Podcast, I talked about "rethinking your toys." I have a whole toy inventory checklist that might help you do an inventory or current toys or help you as you're shopping for upcoming holidays. 

Open-ended toys encourage the most learning objectives, independence and creativity.

I have a lot of hesitation in telling you, all toys should be wood and not plastic OR no toys should include batteries. Some child development educators make this a black/white rule for their family… but you should know if you can’t afford wood, plastic is great. I prefer some plastic toys over their wood counterpart. If your flashlights and cash registers take batteries, that’s fabulous. If you pretend pets can walk, how cool. It’s about balance. It’s about finding toys that will be used in more than one way and that works for you and your kids.

But also, there is a place for that ONE toy that only does that one thing too. When I was a kid, I would save up my precious pennies for a robot cat, dog and furbies. Can a robot cat be more than a robot cat? no. But, it brought me joy. If my parents were rigid in the rule “no batteries,“ I would’ve missed out on the joy these toys brought to me.

If your kids really want a remote control car, and it’s kinda only got one use… well that’s OK. The main purpose of having open-endedness with our toys is learning. So more toys than not should be able to serve multiple uses and engage them in different ways. But there is a place for the others too. BALANCE.

I also want to say, toys don’t have to be toys. Toys can come from the recycling pile, from a rock or a stick… from cleaning supplies and tools.

All this in mind, let’s do a toy inventory… and really discover what toys are ready to part ways with our families.

Does this spark joy?! Anyone??

It doesn’t have to be that extreme, and you don’t have to thank the toy unless you want to.

But get rid of the junk. The McDonalds toys have served their purpose and brought joy after a delicious happy meal. And now they need to go.

Toys that don’t belong to a set, that is broken… Toys that are duplicates of another toy you have that’s much better quality.

Show us a peek of your donate pile on your story #xoplaychallenge & tag @xolaurenpace!!!