Too many toys...

At my mom's group Christmas party, we talked a bit about the balance of gift giving and spoiling, and how to handle well-meaning family members who want to do too much.

I mentioned an author, John Rosemond, who has written many great books to Christian parents dealing with the same issues we are. He talks a lot about limiting the number of toys our children have in order to encourage creative play. I have seen it with Silas - when he has less, he is actually able to play better!

The library has several of his books, including the New Six Point Plan for Raising Happy, Healthy Children. Here is the description from the book jacket:

This completely revised and updated edition of the parenting classic urges contemporary parents to follow six fundamental points for raising happy, healthy children:
Point 1: The secret to raising a happy, successful child is to give more attention to your marriage than you give to your child.
Point 2: The clue to proper parenting is to be both authoritatively loving and lovingly authoritative. In the real world, there is no possibility of a truly democratic relationship between parents and children-not as long as the children live at home and rely on parents for emotional, social, and economic protections.
Point 3: Our job as parents is to socialize our children. In order for children to become successful at the three Rs of reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic, their parents must first teach them the three Rs of respect, responsibility, and resourcefulness.
Point 4: Frustration isn't necessarily bad for children. In fact, a certain amount is absolutely essential to healthy character formation and emotional growth.
Point 5: Children need forms of play and exercise that require imagination, initiative, creativity, intelligence, resourcefulness, and self-reliance. Making do is not only the essence of truly creative play-which is itself the essence of childhood-it' s also the story of the advancement of the human race.
Point 6: Television, computers, and video games are constantly blinking, tasteless, odor-free counterfeits of the real world. Too much of their use encumbers children's development and is unhealthy for the family as a unit, so parents need to start early and limit their children's exposure.

He has another book that I have not yet read called Parenting By the Book: Biblical wisdom for raising your child. I've reserved it - I'll let you know what I think!

I needed this little reminder for myself... we have some work to do.