Simplicity Parenting: A Review

Simplicity Parenting, by Kim John Payne is hands-down the best parenting book I have read. The ideas are simple (things you probably already think about) and there aren't lots of gimmicks, systems, or rewards. This book advocates involving your child in a simpler life. A simpler life is less stress for the child, less stress for the parents, and a happier family overall.
Payne separates the simplification into four major areas: environment, rhythm, schedules, and the adult world. I was sold in this book halfway through the chapter about simplifying your child's environment. Payne suggests that the abundance of toys (books and clothes too) are stressing our children out because they just have too many. Decisions are hard when too many choices are present, and often their minds become overwhelmed and just sort of turn off. Payne cites several cases where a child has been temperamental, acting different, or having characteristics of ADD, and simply by reducing the number of toys and clutter in the child's environment, these symptoms have drastically decreased or disappeared all together.
We have been having some issues with Finn's behavior lately, so before I even finished the chapter on environment, I did a huge purge of Finn's toys. Now, mind you, I was already in the purging mood and had purged a LOT of stuff from our house, so I was sort of on a roll. We have a tiny house (800 square feet) so we don't actually have an overwhelming amount of toys. But we do (did) have way more than we need, and things were constantly cluttered. So, I removed about 1/4 of the books and about 1/3 of the toys from the house and put them into "storage" in the garage. (As you can imagine, the noise-making and plastic toys were the first to go!) I am going to keep them for a couple of months. Toys that he asks for can become a toy library (to exchange for toys in the house) and the rest will be donated.  I was sure that Finn was going to throw a fit when this happened. Before he walked in the house, I explained to him what I did... "I rearranged your room and put some of your toys into the garage for now". He saw his room and was instantly mesmerized by toys that had always been there, but maybe he didn't notice because there were too many choices. Ever since I made this change he has been engaging in solitary imaginative play for about one to two hours a day! And, he has only inquired about a few missing toys (and didn't even want them, he just wanted to make sure they were still in the garage).  And maybe it's my imagination, but in general, Finn has been much more pleasant to be around as well. So far, I am so happy with the results. Now I just need to figure out how to make sure he doesn't add too much to the clutter with his birthday and the holidays right around the corner.
The other chapters focus on making sure your family has some sort of routine or rhythm that you children can rely on, reducing schedules (mainly for older kids) so that children still have ample free time each day, reducing screen time, and reducing the children's involvement with adult issues (politics, money, etc.). Everything Payne said made perfect sense and I have already been putting it into practice at our home.
Simplicity Parenting is basically a call to live a more simple life. You children will become happier, and you will become happier. I recommend that everyone with children read this book. I am certainly glad that I did!
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Puzzle Bags

As part of my big purge that has been happening, I have also been doing a lot of organizing and re-organizing. Finn has a bunch of those cheapy puzzles.... you know, the kind you get at the grocery store for a few dollars? Well, he loves these puzzles, yet the boxes they come in are not sturdy and they take up a lot of room. I had had enough of finding places for puzzle boxes and dealing with boxes that were falling apart. Behold..... puzzle bags!
For each puzzle, I made a quick drawstring bag from leftover fabric from my stash. Inside each bag are the puzzle pieces (of course), as well as the picture of the finished puzzle (formerly known as the top of the box). Then, I also cut out the small picture on the side of the puzzle box and tied this onto the drawstring to prevent the ribbons from being pulled out of the bag. Finally, I tucked all of the puzzles into a box made for organizing photos that I had laying around, and our multi-shelf puzzle stash now takes up a fraction of it's previous real estate. Plus, Finn thinks they are super cool and has been doing puzzles non-stop!

 old puzzle storage....

new puzzle storage

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The Big Purge

Over the past few weeks I have found myself itching to be free of "stuff" and have begun a major purge. Which is actually pretty funny b/c I did the same thing about 8 months ago, just a couple months before Phoebe was born. We loaded up the entire back of the subaru and hauled it off to goodwill. And now I have done the same again (3 times) and am still going. Where does all this stuff come from? I swear, I don't buy this much stuff. I literally don't have the time. I am a sucker for free boxes, however, But in reality, I think most of my "stuff" piles up because I don't like things to go to waste. I like to use them until they are unusable. Especially one-time use things, like plastic yogurt containers. I save them because I can't stand to recycle them after only using them once. But really, how much need does a person have for 20 yogurt containers? Also, when I get rid of clothes, I actually only giveaway about 2/3.. the other 1/3 is kept as fabric to use in my "to-be-upcycled" bin. OK,... bins (plural). My husband hates this, by the way, but has not divorced me yet. Anyways, I am making my way through the house, re-organizing, craigs-listing, and donating. If I am not using it, maybe someone else can. Each item I pass gets asked 3 questions: 1. Do I love you? 2. Do I need you? and 3. Do I use you? If the item doesn't pass at least one category (and hopefully at least 2), then it needs to go.
Purging always seems to make me feel free, like a burden was just taken off my shoulders. And honestly, stuff is a burden. You have to pay for it, store it, maintain it. I need enough stuff to maintain my lifestyle, but I don't need extra. Hooray for purging! I know that in a year from now, I will likely once again be overrun by stuff, but for now I am enjoying my new found freedom. I am enjoying living a slightly more simple life, and hope that I can continue to simplify even more. I have the urge to purge!
Have you purged lately?

This is our garage storage shelves post-purge. I know it still looks full, but man, I wish I had taken a before picture. We did good.....

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