Corrosive Play

I am reading Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne. This book is convicting that my children's world is not what I had hoped it would be. Payne discusses the dreams that we had before our children are born. He mentions pink paper handmade Valentines. Is their environment a reflection of that dream?

Specifically, I am on the chapter about environment. Even more specifically, those who know me, know toys are the hardest area for me to be minimal. I started this minimalist journey after most of these toys had been purchased. Payne talks about 2 things I wish I could change. They are linked to each other. One is to not have "corrosive toys". He isn't talking about squirt guns. He is talking about the guns and bombs that really look like guns and bombs. While, we don't have those, we have The Hulk. When my 4 year old plays with The Hulk, you know it is corrosive play. It isn't creative play. It is play that smashes everything. The second idea Payne discusses is having an ad free perimeter around your child. Fail #2. My children are obsessed with super heroes. They have just about every superhero ever heard of... 25 of them anyway. All plastic, Imaginext to be exact.

In an attempt this week to encourage creative productive play, we bought these construction toys. I filled a box of beans and handed the 4 year old the construction vehicles. He spent an hour pushing beans around, hiding toys in the beans, pouring the beans from one hand to the other. This is the kind of play I dreamed about before I had my children.... Then he went and found his super heroes and had an epic battle in the beans, which I am mostly ok with. Life is about balance. I would never take his superheroes from him. On the other hand, it was nice to see him play with something else for an hour. We took a step in the right direction.