So, I found out a few years ago that I and my 2 sisters were hoodwinked as kids. I’m not sure why I’m surprised, as my hubby and I do a lot of that already as parents…

My parents admitted that they occasionally “stole” some of the toys at the bottom of our toy baskets, put them away where we’d never find them and presented them as new “gifts” for birthdays or Christmas!

Who can blame them?

You know the saying…

“The more one gets, the more one wants.”

I’d heard it growing up, time and time again…

“Mom, can I have a Cabbage Patch doll?”.

“No honey, you have plenty of dolls.  The more one gets the more one wants.  Be content with the dolls you do have.”

“Mom, can I have another jelly bean?”

“No honey, just be content with the ones you were given.”

It made me crazy to hear this and I rolled my eyes all the time.  And I kept thinking that it wasn’t fair that I was deprived of whatever it was I wanted.

But now that I am a Mom, I appreciate the concept of a giving kids a finite amount of “things”.   Limiting what they get keeps them from getting spoiled or bored or ungrateful.

As a parent, don’t give your kids too much.  Of anything.  Toys, treats, tv, etc.

They will inevitably receive a ridiculous amount of gifts for Holidays, birthdays, etc, from friends and relatives.  Your job is to filter through it, quickly, and stealthily(!) and set aside most of it for a rainy day, a prize incentive for great behavior or accomplishment, or just to give away to another child more needy.

This goes for the toy basket, too.  Every couple of months, dive to the bottom of that thing and sift through it all.  Those toys that have been long neglected and forgotten can be given to new homes.

The less they have, the more they’ll appreciate what they do have and whatever they receive!

I think that my parents were brilliant for rotating our toys.  We never knew the difference.

You just have to be sure that you know for sure which toys to “steal”…don’t mistakenly get rid of your Baby’s favorite dolly or she’ll be talking about you in her therapy sessions when she’s 20!