There is a lesson to be learned here...

and it is not that my daughter is a slob. I already knew that! It is also not that I have neglected this room for far too long 'cause I already knew that too!



The lessons that I do hope to teach Madison today as we tackle this disaster is

• She is now a big girl and it is now time to take care of her things.


• There are less fortunate children in this world and we need to share with them.

I've already started discussing these two ideas with her. She seems to get the taking care of the toys part is is excited to do so. I am a realist though and know that it is not going to miraculously happen over night. But one can hope right?

It is the second concept of giving some toys away that I am having difficult with. We talked about the fact that Santa will be coming soon and how we have to make room for new things. We've also talked about the less fortunate children and how they would be so happy to get a toy even if it is something we don't play with anymore. Madison's response was "but I play with all of my toys and they would be sad if they thought I didn't like them anymore". Gotta be honest here the toys with feelings thing threw me and it took a few moments for me to respond with "They also get sad when they aren't played with and would love to go to a new home where they are the center of attention".

I've dropped the topic until after nap time but by the end of the day there will be toys that are finding a new home. They will not only be leaving our home but Madison will be the one to select them. Yes life would be easier if I just went through her things while she was asleep. If I did that though how would she learn that we need to help others? I'm sure there will be tears involved after all she is the type of kid that gets upset when I throw out pamphlets handed out at our door by strangers from certain religions. I'll keep you posted. Wish me luck!