Recently I read an article about slow family living and it made me pause and think about the things we bring into our home.

Recently I rounded up all the toys and took stock of what we have. Initially I wanted Damian to only have natural toys, but lately we have gotten away from that. Plato said “The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things.” and I found myself thinking, most of these things are far from lovely. Since the great round up, every morning Damian gets to pick out two or three toys from the box for the day. (I have noticed that fewer toys seem to make a more focused happier babe.) It has been an experiment of sorts, I have been wanting to see his favorites. He usually picks the “lovely” things, almost always a set of wooden blocks and then a vehicle (lately his wooden helicopter) and usually a ball too. Seeing him pick his natural toys by choice has reminded me of my pledge. Especially as Ivy is starting to grow into the grabbing teething age. Do I want her grabbing a natural material or a plastic thing to chew? When Damian teethed he much preferred a wooden spoon over a plastic ring.

(Damian’s color “runes”, a handmade gift from Cheyenne that he has been loving lately.)

When Damian is exceptionally good when we are out he has been getting a reward, lately this is a cheap plastic made-in-china thing. I don’t have a problem with the reward system, just the rewards we have been buying. And really, are a dozen crappy toys really cheaper then one well made one? Not really. Yesterday we ordered this, a wooden tool box. Aside from being natural and lovely in my eyes, we think Damian will love it as he is in that whole imitation phase and starting to really grow his imagination too. We intend on splitting up the toolbox it up into many little rewards. Spaced out over time, that only equates to a dollar or two per item. No more expensive and much much more lovely then what we have been buying.

This focus on lovely things has begun to extend into our home too. for example, recently Damian and Ivy’s dresser broke. It was a cheap Walmart buy. We need a new one but want a quality one that will last. Michael has a little equation he uses when deciding on a new things which works well for almost everything. There are three things to consider: time, quantity and quality; now just pick two. (Though we only need one dresser quantity can be seen as cost as well.) We want a quality dresser but don’t want to spend a lot of money (let’s face it, we are a young family and not made of cash.) We will take our time and when we find the right quality second hand dresser we will buy it. It will probably need to be refinished, taking some more time, but once done it will last. It will be another lovely thing in our home.

(Sorting seeds from last year’s Titan Sunflowers with Mommy. His only fee is being allowed to snack on a few.)

Every family is different and our methods might not work for everyone, but life should not be a one size fits all experience. How boring would that be! Even with us, plastic has its place. Damian’s bath and outdoor toys are bpa-free plastic. He has a Tonka fire truck that is not only plastic, but battery operated. He loved making the ladder go around (and around and around and around…) The joy he gets out of it makes it a lovely toy in my eyes. There is a balance to be found in every home. At the moment it is just the cheap plastic we want to purge as we work to a more conscious home environment. One thing at a time least it become overwhelming and we give up.

Pardon the pun but it is all about the baby steps!