Sept. 12: Having children often means acquiring lots of new stuff. Kids need so many things…furniture, clothes, toys, diapers, diapers, diapers, coats, shoes. And it’s so easy to find those things cheap these days that it can be pretty easy to go overboard.
When I was in graduate school, I studied natural resources and read a lot about American’s consumption habits. As a nation, we are incredible energy hogs. We buy too much stuff with too much packaging, we drive too much, we live in houses that are too big, we eat way too much. That all might not be a deal if it weren’t that our consumptive habits have such a negative impact on the Earth. And that we’re setting an example for much of the rest of the world that this is a great way to live. It’s just not sustainable! We use so much more energy than other nations. It makes me very uncomfortable.
I try to live rather lightly. I’d like my kids to have the opportunity to live lightly on the Earth. So while we haven’t achieved any milestones in sustainable living, we try to do our part by keeping our acquisitions to a minimum. Yet we’re not lacking for anything. I’ve been the lucky recipient of so much baby gear, it’s incredible. My friends have been very generous.
Looking around the kid’s rooms tonight, I noted the following:
- Crib – hand-me-down from Maretta
- Sylvia’s Dresser – hand-me-down from my co-worker, Sara’s parents
- Changing table – hand-me-down from Bryan’s co-worker, Matthew
- Rocking chair – garage sale find
- Andrew’s dresser – garage sale find
- Andrew’s bed – my bed growing up
- Andrew’s bookshelf – hand-me-down from Terry
- Andrew’s doll crib – mine growing up
- Andrew’s table and chairs – Maretta and Joe’s growing up
New things include: Sylvia’s bookshelf, Andrew’s rocking chair, their bedding, wall clocks, curtains, and rugs.
That makes me feel great! My kids have nice rooms. I love being in their rooms, and they are filled with things I really like. I love that much of the furniture is old things finding new life in our home.
I’ve been incredibly lucky with Andrew and Sylvia’s clothes. In both cases, I bought a fun number of baby clothes myself. When Andrew was little, my friend Vicki handed us down all Alex’s old clothes. For the first year or so, I think that about 3/4 of Andrew’s clothes came from Alex. It was great! Now with Sylvia, we again are getting clothes from my neighbor Kathy and my friend Pam. It’s been wonderful to have closets full of nice clothes to choose from. I like being able to buy some really special items to top off a full wardrobe! Bryan’s mom is great at finding super-wonderful pieces for the kids. It rounds out their clothing supply beautifully.
When Andrew needs clothes, I usually check resale shops and garage sales first. When I find good brands, I stock up. I don’t think his clothes have ever looked “used” (except perhaps when he stain them, but then he’s using them!), and I feel good about getting the bulk of his clothes by recycling.
When it comes to toys, I feel like we have a good balance going in our house. We’re not overrun by toys. Andrew has loads of puzzles, shelves of books, a big basket of stuffed animals, dolls, instruments, blocks, a train set, lots of animals, Noah’s ark, a farm, a garage, a doctor’s kit, dress-up items. His creative and learning needs are well-met. And yet, I really like the fact that when the house is cleaned up, stacks of children’s books, Sylvia’s high chair, play mat, and exersaucer, and a shelf of toys in the sun room are the main indicators that children live in the house. I like keeping the toy madness toned down in our home:)
So now that I’ve patted myself on the back about being so moderate about consumption, now comes the part of the post where I say what I want. I want lots of beautiful wooden toys. I want my kids to have them, but in truth, I want them for myself. Mom told me that she got all four of us kids double t-strap shoes because she had always wanted them as a kid. She knew that she was fulfilling her childhood wish by getting them for us, and she warned me that parents often do lots of things for their kids that are really things they wanted for themselves. She encouraged me to try to limit it to things like double t-strap shoes. For Christmas, Byan’s parents (or perhaps Santa…I’m not sure which) got me a silk play bower for Sylvia. I think it whetted my appetite. Now, I want a fairy house.
I really hope Sylvia or Andrew want it, because I think they are going to get it.
I was looking through the Magic Cabin catalog, and I realized that assuming that Sylvia is our last child, some of the baby toys I may never have reason to buy (for myself) again. Will it be that I never by a cute wooden chew toy? Maybe that’s OK. There’s lots of wonderful, magical toys that are to come. But I started to think about what toys I want to be part of our life before those little kids of mine grow up. In fact, I made a list. A long list. Here’s my $1,000 wish list from Magic Cabin toys.
Join with me! Love very expensive, European-made, wooden and simple and imaginative toys that warm the soul!