Time for Sorting

It was so refreshing to sort through our belongings recently and find that we had plenty to pass on to others. We have so many toys, clothes, books, etc. that it can make life so difficult for a mom of several little people to clean things up. The term "clean up" was ambiguous since not everything had a home. Now that we've gone through our little peoples' belongings, it was time to put things back. The system I have come up with works wonderfully for us.

Toys:

I have created a box system in which some toys are sorted by kind (e.g. barn animals, or cars), and others by assortment (a coffee maker mixed in with a cash register). Everything is put into a box; all the boxes are labeled (contents listed on the outside), numbered and put into a closet. This works really well for several reasons. One is that clean up is much quicker because if something is out, we know it goes back in the box. Another is that the mess is much reduced. Also, when the children open up a box, it always seems new to them. The older children can remember some of the items they haven't played with in awhile and they really look forward to playing with them again.

Clothes:

I have learned that storing childrens' clothing is best done by size, gender and season (e.g. 24 month boy winter or 3T girl spring.) This makes passing hand-me-downs really easy and has also helped me get hand me downs we received ready for use in the future.


Books:
We leave almost all books out for accessibility and I have found that a bookshelf just for them out in the living room has really encouraged them to like books. We are very picky about what we read to them, knowing that everything we put in their hearts and minds must line up with Scripture. If you think this leaves many books left as a possibility, think again. As an example, here is one verse that makes a mighty tall measuring stick:

"Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;"
-1 Timothy 4: 7

This one alone pretty much eliminates anything in your local childrens' bookstore. We are personally admonished by this verse to not read books with talking animals or animals wearing clothes. To us, those are obviously silly, irreverent myths because God gave mankind souls, not animals and to treat them as people is silly and irreverent. We don't do pagan myths either, including mermaids, leprechauns, witches, ghosts, or Santa, etc. We won't read about pirates as that would be endorsing theft and villany. I know that these are hard truths for much of society to even consider, but our family takes the raising of our young people very seriously. We are training them to be godly men and women for the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the blessing to choose what we want them to play with and read about. Why would we settle for the foolish, sometimes wicked toys the world offers?

Those are just a few notes that explain how we sort things in our family. I started out with the physical and ended with the spiritual. But isn't it all spiritual? Everything we do, we should do as unto the Lord. (Colossians 3: 23-24).

I will end with: "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children." (Ephesians 5:1).

Let's imitate HIM.