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Thursday, May 13, 2010

Too Much Clutter on the Bed

Our 3 year old is a collector.  She loves to have bags, boxes, and baskets filled with little stuff.  She also loves to read.  Of course we encourage this...usually.

All of these things that she collects she also likes to have in bed.  That just won't work.  I don't want a mountain of toys and books on her bed with no room for her.  I have started a new bedtime rule.  She is allowed four items on her bed, other than her special blanket.  She has a special teddy bear that was given to her when her brother was born.  So Teddy is always a given (but a toy, so he must be counted).  Sometimes LeapFrog's My Pal Violet is included in the four items.  (E also loves his Scout, and we definitely recommend these for a one year old!)

She also has a book called Friends "written" by Sissy that she got in a special blog swap. You can meet Sissy at Academy at Thousand Oaks.  Friends often included.  She also has three other favorite books right now.  (Next week they will change.)  Interestingly, two are by Richard Scary, but only one of them is the standard "Busytown" book-Humperdink's Busy Day.  The other Scary book is his version of The Gingerbread Man.  The other favorite is Little Monsters Neighborhood.

 
Then there are the miscellaneous toys and books that find their way to the bed.  But those listed above are the ones that she has the hardest time deciding which four to include.  Teddy is always included.

How do you limit toys on the bed or don't you?  Am I crazy to do this?  I do love that M reads by herself at nap time and bed time (after we have read to her already).  I just don't want a mountain of toys...I figure if she is this bad at age 3, how awful could it get by age 5?!

7 comments:

Ticia said...

My kids haven't discovered the joy of lots of things yet..... They've done it occasionally but not every night.
I, on the other hand, as a kid firmly believed if I had enough toys on the bed at night, then a burglar wouldn't know I was in the bed.

Lisa said...

All the toys on the bed make me nuts, but for the most part, we just let it go. L has SPD, and I've read that part of the reason he might be piling so much junk on top of himself is the sensory input it provides. I do take away toys if they are keeping him awake. L sometimes sneaks a huge pile of Legos into bed and stays awake for hours playing Lego.

Carrie said...

The toys on the bed thing is just becoming a problem. Usually he has 2-3 that he likes to take with him and whatever he crawls in with is what we insist he stays with. For a little while, this non-thinking mother was storing some of his favorite animals in a basket under his bed. THat stopped when I found the whole basket in the bed! Arg!

Learning. But currently I think we're at 2-3 toys in bed.

Jenna said...

My daughter went through a phase like that. Now we've done like you and limited it to 2 or 3 friends plus her blanket.

Anonymous said...

That sounds like Niyah. Although she usually stuffs things in her closet and doesn't want them on her bed.

Alex is the bed time hoarder. Books, flashlight, etc. I don't usually say anything unless it's something that he could get entangled in during the night. I just sigh and shake my head. :)

Anonymous said...

As long as there is nothing dangerous and there is enough room for her in the bed, I wouldn't worry about it. What is it about toys in her bed that concerns you? (No need to answer, just a question to ask yourself.) :) MP

Jenny said...

So funny. Sissy (thanks for the shout-out! funny - I just read this post when I popped over to your blog to copy your link for a mention of M on a post I was just working on!) does the SAME thing. She fills SOMETHING every day, a purse or pail or anything with a handle and has this little collection for the day. And she wants to sleep with the strangest things. I wish she would just sleep with her stuffed animals or dolls, but it's always hard objects she wants, like a play phone and a little shoebox of crayons. I just think it seems uncomfortable to roll onto. And she gets so much stuff on there, she ends up falling off the bed!

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