Spring cleaning in winter — why not?
The children’s rooms are bursting at the seams and with Santa Claus and Christmas new toys and clothes have been added. Many children no longer feel like playing in their rooms, they are too overwhelmed by the oversupply on their own shelves. In addition, some things are broken and incomplete, or have “outgrown” their own shelves. Actually, spring is more the season to clean up and do the basic cleaning, but why not use the time in winter, when everything is comfortably at home, for an inventory of the children’s room?
Even children, who have everything, are always tempted by advertising, shopping or things they see at their friends and have many wishes. With regard to new gifts, they can reserve one or two afternoons together with their charges, in which they check board games and Lego for completeness, look through books and toys to see if they are still interesting and appropriate for their age. This can lead to some things being rediscovered and becoming attractive again. It is best to prepare three large cartons and sort them into them:
Box 1: Found something you still enjoy and want to keep.
Box 2: Broken, discardable or recyclable
Box 3: everything that is still complete and in good condition, that you are too old for or that no longer interests you
The contents of box 2 should then be taken away immediately. You can check box 1 again after a week and maybe something can still be moved to box 3. The things in box 3 can be sold together with the children, for example, so that they have a budget from which they can pay for Christmas presents for parents or siblings themselves. It is also a good idea to wrap these things nicely and donate them to refugee homes or other institutions, together with their age. In this way, you can bring joy to others and make room in your child’s room so that you can have more fun playing again.
For teenagers, too, this can be a useful activity in the run-up to Christmas, where clothes or computer games can be mucked out instead of toys. The system with the 3 boxes can generally help to keep order, for example also with school things…
And when the clean-up operation is successfully completed, writing a wish list is even more fun!?
