Make Your Toys Tempting

During this packing process, we have downsized our toy bin to a small basket. Woody is kind of wondering where all of his friends went...but as the lone cowboy in the room, he's happy to have Princess Anna's undivided attention. 

This is what it looked like before the downsizing. Yes, that IS a life jacket. Now...I know this is not much compared to a whole toy room of toys, but it was a lot for us. We've never really had a dedicated toy room, so everything just gets tossed in a giant basket.

And it was NOT appealing. Who would look at this big pile of stuff and think...

"Hey!! Let's play!!"

Well, the dogs do. But that's beside the point. The girls would pass it by day after day and go on to something else...like tattooing themselves with Sharpies, or something equally as invigorating.

But the instant we downsized and displayed only a few toys...Emma sat right down and was enthralled! When it wasn't an overwhelming mess, she was drawn to the simplicity of choices. 

I do know all the secrets of toy bin rotation.  But it's never worked for us, mostly because we just don't have that many toys! I prefer to keep only what we are using right at that moment.  The majority of our "toys" are dress-up clothes and accessories...with a few puppets, instruments, baby dolls, a stroller, and the play kitchen.

When we move into our new house, there will be some major purging and re-organization of activity areas. I can't wait to get it all organized and have an AMAZING space that will inspire and bring the girls joy every day. We are planning on creating a dedicated art/sewing/play room right on the main level and I've been pinning some colorful and innovative ideas to get inspired!

Tell me about your art/sewing/toy rooms!
Do you have an organization system that you love?

Organic Parenting

I've introduced you to my friend Tara before and I'm excited to talk about her again! We have known each other for several years...we've camped together, hooped together, and laughed together. And now we've Skyped together!

I'm thrilled to tell you that I'm a part of her upcoming parenting e-course, Organic Parenting: The unconventional guide to vibrant mamas and thriving kids and we've got a little teaser to share.

http://youtu.be/fFPjjLJJDY4

The Organic Parenting e-course will be a 6 week process of learning radical self-care, overcome our challenges and triggers, and moving beyond conventional parenting tools (like punishments and rewards) to nurture real trust, deeper relationship and actual fun in our lives together.

Tara interviewed me as part of the lineup of contributors. We talked about how my faith impacts my view of parenting, my personal challenges as a mama and the tools I use to overcome them, and how I balance it all.

Other contributors include Naomi Aldort, Peter Gray PhD, Jan Hunt, Lenore Skenazy, Brad Yates, Tiffani Bearup, Pixie Campbell, Denise Andrade, Hannah Marcotti, and many more parents, guides, coaches, and bloggers.

The registration opens on September 3rd and the course begins on Sept 17.

But I wanted to point you to Tara now so you could get to know her and see whether this course is what you've been looking for. I'm an affiliate for Tara because I believe in her message of unconventional living and Organic Wisdom, so I'd love if you click these links. If you're not comfortable with that, you can Google her to find out more.

She has a free mini e-course you can sign up for which will give you a much better idea of who she is, what she talks about, and how she does what she does. Click here to get that for free.

And I hope to see you in the Organic Parenting course!

DPP '10 // Learning

I was reading Mothering Magazine awhile back and came across some parenting advice that I've never forgotten. The advice was to "say yes".

Say yes when she wants to make pancakes. Say yes when she wants to flip them all by herself. Say yes when she wants to wear mismatched clothes. Say yes when she wants ice cream for breakfast. Say yes when she wants to hold Lucy for the tenth time. Say yes when she wants to make forts in my newly cleaned room. Just say yes.

Even when it means sacrificing my own silly agenda or preferences...I want to say yes. And no, I don't think that saying yes is being permissive or allowing her to manipulate me. I obviously still use my discretion and every day isn't a yes day...but it has saved our connection with each other so many times. It causes me slow down and be a better mommy.

By saying yes, I'm giving her permission to experience life. On her own terms.