Play More, Plug In Less

Like a lot of people this time of year, I spent time and energy, and too much money, finding toys for my kids. On top of the good tidings of joy in December, I also had two of my kids' birthdays. So needless to say, I shopped til I dropped.

I combed the internet to find the most highly recommended and best priced items. I made a dozen trips to Target in the span of about 5 days. Plus I doled out ideas to grandparents and aunts and uncles.

I had it all covered. More so than I ever imagined.

Little did I know that all I really needed to do was go by the back of a store and pick up boxes and packaging. For free.

After all the gifts were unwrapped and the paper and ribbons were strewn around the house. After all the games were opened, pieces put together and cards shuffled. And after all the electronics were loaded and charged. All my kids wanted to play with (at least for the past two days) is cardboard boxes, styrofoam packaging, and a giveaway inflatable ball.

Granted they did spend a couple of days reveling in all the new products purchased for their entertainment. And there were lots of smiles and thank yous, to both family and Santa.

And then the moved on.

To the land of imagination.

The other day the girls were in the garage where we had a huge pile of cardboard boxes and packaging set aside for recycling. My oldest took two cardboard pieces that were used to keep an appliance in the box - the kind that are shaped funny to fit the item so it doesn't move around - and turned them into two "desks", one for her and one for her sister. They were playing school, and of course she was the teacher. They had their paper and markers nestled into all the nooks and crannies. Even a couple of pet rocks managed to find their way into the game. Talk about a cheap toy. So they played happily for a couple of hours with their imaginations taking charge and nary an electronic in sight.

Then this morning they enjoyed a rousing game of Monkey in the Middle with the inflatable ball that we have had for about four years and which came to our family via a giveaway at a park event. Another hour marked by some good old fashioned fun.

This afternoon my oldest took a couple of large styrofoam pieces - once again the kind used to keep an appliance (that we finally unpacked) snug in its box - and she put them together to make a "castle". Then she took a sharpie pen and wrote on it, deeming it the "Castle of Pop". Into it's nooks and crannies she put all the confetti that came out of the 'poppers' that we did for our New Year's celebration last night.

Once again her imagination takes flight. She sees so many possibilities in the things that I never even look at, much less decide are worth keeping. I'm envious that she can soar so high and see so far.

I think that needs to be one of my new years resolutions.

Plug in less, turn on less, rely on less.

See more, imagine more, play more.