Get a Toy, Give a Toy 

Our children always received a lot of stuff for Christmas, birthdays, or just because. Our rule (to try to build generous, giving kids) was if you received a new toy, you then had to give an old toy to kids who didn’t have many toys. It was comical. When they were little, they would get a Star Wars landing pad (huge) and give away one G.I. Joe little guy—but it still was a great concept. It also helps when they get a little older by keeping the amount of stuff in your house to a little more manageable level.

I also found it very important to limit the number of toys my young children had at one time. We had a “back basement” sort of storage room, and my kids will remember the stacks of games, crafts, blocks, and Playmobil sets that would be organized and waiting for them when they wanted to “trade in” one toy for another. There were, of course, baskets of toys that stayed out all the time, but there were also many items that were put away. This helped in a couple ways. First, I couldn’t stand all the Playmobil pieces mixed in with the Lincoln Logs mixed in with hundreds of Lego blocks and, believe me, I personally sorted this mess too many times. So, keeping a rule that half of everything was away on the shelf helped with keeping pieces straight. And, more importantly, I believe when children have everything within their reach, nothing is special to them. Having less to focus on limits distractions and adds interest in and appreciation for the toys in front of them. So the “half away” concept worked well for us for years.