The Bates kids only have a hamper full of indoor toys

[Daisy4]

According to a recent comment, they share a hamper full of toys. If they get new toys that make the hamper overflow, something gets thrown away. I can almost understand a hamper for one child, but all those little kids with a wide variety of ages?

 

"Too many toys can be overwhelming! Years ago when Zach was 5, I remember trying to motivate him to clean the mess of toys. Each day in playing, the little ones thought they had to dump every toy out (ignoring most while leaving a discouraging mess!). Someone spoke at a homeschool conference on organizing the home. They suggested removing most of your toys to storage, then advised to trade the toys out once or twice a year. We tried that and the stress of cleanup dropped dramatically. A few years later, we stopped satoring extra toys and just stuck with having one hamper full. If they get new toys that cause the hamper to overflow, we get rid of some old ones. The advantage was that the kids spent most of their play time reading, playing outdoors, playing board games together, etc. Even though we have a hamper of toys, very few of the children choose to use them… they prefer bikes and books and such! Love, Kelly"

[doggie]

take most of the toys away never change them and wonder why they don't play with them? well it keeps the mess down and thats the only real important things.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

Of course the kids don't want anything in the crummy hamper! They're probably bored to tears with it all. There can't be much at an appropriate level to chose from at any given age when you have a child at every age, and ALL the toys fit in one hamper.

I totally get only having so many toys out at a time and rotating them (though I did it about once a month when the LittleSquirrel was a toddler. Doing it once or twice a year seems to defeat the purpose of keeping things interesting.). I didn't keep a super-duper ton of stuff out at one time, but this was for one child. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if having that many children is such an inconvenience, don't have so many!! It makes me sad to think that these QF kids probably have very few prized possessions to call their own.

[CanadianHippie]

Of course the kids don't want anything in the crummy hamper! They're probably bored to tears with it all. There can't be much at an appropriate level to chose from at any given age when you have a child at every age, and ALL the toys fit in one hamper.

I totally get only having so many toys out at a time and rotating them (though I did it about once a month when the LittleSquirrel was a toddler. Doing it once or twice a year seems to defeat the purpose of keeping things interesting.). I didn't keep a super-duper ton of stuff out at one time, but this was for one child. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if having that many children is such an inconvenience, don't have so many!! It makes me sad to think that these QF kids probably have very few prized possessions to call their own.

I get the feeling the only things they can call their own is their underwear and toothbrushes.

[tabitha2]

I can't say I don't agree with this.With the amount of close siblings and all that land to romp on, plus the books,bikes etc.the focus should not on toys-A child's Imagination can create enough fun :)

[Witsec7]

We've had this convo before about rotating a childs toys. In this case its multiple children. I'm sure in the perfectly socialist world of fundyland no child has its own toys.

Another selfish fucking mother.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

I get the feeling the only things they can call their own is their underwear and toothbrushes.

Well, the toothbrushes, maybe. I wouldn't make any bets on the underwear.

[emmiedahl]

I can see rotating a small child's toys, it's the making everyone share that seems odd. My youngest is playing with blocks and shape sorters, the 4 year old is into Tinker Toys and Monster High dolls, and so on. I cannot imagine making them share toys! No wonder the kids are not interested; probably nothing is age appropriate. Don't they ever get presents? In a typical year, most children end up with at least a hamper's worth of new toys. And what about the babies? Are they also expected to just ride bikes and read books?

[Deleted07]

Yeah its bizarre, I don't get why they can't have like a hamper each in each bedroom, and the maybe even a hamper for each kids bed or something of their own personal toys and stuff?

[holierthanyou]

I can't say I don't agree with this.With the amount of close siblings and all that land to romp on, plus the books,bikes etc.the focus should not on toys-A child's Imagination can create enough fun :)

I agree. Given that they aren't counting outdoor toys like balls etc, nor books or board games, personally I think one large trunk of shared toys is fine. I agree (!) with Kelly's reasoning too about it encouraging outdoor active play.

[skankbiscuit]

I can see rotating a small child's toys, it's the making everyone share that seems odd. My youngest is playing with blocks and shape sorters, the 4 year old is into Tinker Toys and Monster High dolls, and so on. I cannot imagine making them share toys! No wonder the kids are not interested; probably nothing is age appropriate. Don't they ever get presents? In a typical year, most children end up with at least a hamper's worth of new toys. And what about the babies? Are they also expected to just ride bikes and read books?

Their yearly "gift" is mama pumping out a brand new baby doncha know? :lol:

[Jessica]

I agree. Given that they aren't counting outdoor toys like balls etc, nor books or board games, personally I think one large trunk of shared toys is fine. I agree (!) with Kelly's reasoning too about it encouraging outdoor active play.

ditto.

[Sunnichick31]

At least they have more than 5 toys.

[liltwinstar]

Re: the underwear thing...way back when the Maxwell's Mom's board was still running and publicly viewable, a mother wrote asking how to handle laundry. Her brilliant idea was that because she and her daughters wore the same size panties, they should just buy some jumbo packs of the white Hanes type, then wash them in hot water (possibly bleach) and have a central location for all to pull from - so basically, the mother and daughters would all share underwear.

Granted, most of the other moms tried to tell her that was a bad idea, but their argument was that her husband (the daughter's father) should not be looking that mom in an "intimate way" while the mom was wearing the daughter's underwear. I don't recall someone saying "crazy lady, kids should have their OWN underwear" but someone might have ...it was a long time ago.

I think that when women have more children than they can handle and when they're drinking koolaid by the gallon, they grasp for anything that will make their lives easier, and I can't say I blame them... although things like birth control, daycare, etc would provide way more help than a central underwear location ever could.

[NurseNell]

I get the feeling the only things they can call their own is their underwear and toothbrushes.

OMG, this reminds me of when I did a medical mission to El Salvador. Those poor kids had communal underwear AND toothbrushes!! The underwear didn't bother me too much, they're clean. The toothbrushes really boggled my mind. They were kept in a large bin in the bathroom, the kids just take a random brush and brush their teeth, rinse the toothbrush, and return it to the bin.

[NurseNell]

I can't say I don't agree with this.With the amount of close siblings and all that land to romp on, plus the books,bikes etc.the focus should not on toys-A child's Imagination can create enough fun :)

I agree with this. My kids preferred pots, pans, and big cardboard boxes for inside play when they were preschoolers.

[O Latin]

Re: the underwear thing...way back when the Maxwell's Mom's board was still running and publicly viewable, a mother wrote asking how to handle laundry. Her brilliant idea was that because she and her daughters wore the same size panties, they should just buy some jumbo packs of the white Hanes type, then wash them in hot water (possibly bleach) and have a central location for all to pull from - so basically, the mother and daughters would all share underwear.

Granted, most of the other moms tried to tell her that was a bad idea, but their argument was that her husband (the daughter's father) should not be looking that mom in an "intimate way" while the mom was wearing the daughter's underwear. I don't recall someone saying "crazy lady, kids should have their OWN underwear" but someone might have ...it was a long time ago.

I think that when women have more children than they can handle and when they're drinking koolaid by the gallon, they grasp for anything that will make their lives easier, and I can't say I blame them... although things like birth control, daycare, etc would provide way more help than a central underwear location ever could.

Okay, maybe this is a dumb/weird question, but is this only a problem for fundie families? My mom and sister and I were always such different sizes that we never would have gotten our underwear mixed up, but even if you only had a mom and two daughters who were all similar sizes, it could be an issue (my solution to said issue would be to have everybody do their own laundry).

Sorry if this sounds strange. I started doing my own laundry at eight and my siblings weren't far behind, so communal laundry in general is weird to me.

[Witsec7]

They probably all wear big white grannie panties. :o

riffle

[Deleted07]

They probably all big white grannie panties. :o

and granny bra's for the girls...

although admitedly I wear granny panties and granny bra's too! lol!!!

Almost suprised they don't wear these:

[liltwinstar]

Okay, maybe this is a dumb/weird question, but is this only a problem for fundie families? My mom and sister and I were always such different sizes that we never would have gotten our underwear mixed up, but even if you only had a mom and two daughters who were all similar sizes, it could be an issue (my solution to said issue would be to have everybody do their own laundry).

Sorry if this sounds strange. I started doing my own laundry at eight and my siblings weren't far behind, so communal laundry in general is weird to me.

Not weird/dumb. I can't remember how many daughters this woman had, but still...it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out a solution. Like, maybe, assigning colors/styles to each person or doing what my mom did and writing our names in our underwear (totally embarrassing, btw) or assigning laundry days. Although if you have more than 6 kids, assigning laundry days wouldn't work - you'd have more people than days. But anyway, point being, if you don't have time to wash your kid's underwear, you probably have too many kids.

Even as a fundie kid I would have been completely opposed to and grossed out by sharing underwear with my mom!!!!!

[Witsec7]

and granny bra's for the girls...

although admitedly I wear granny panties and granny bra's too! lol!!!

A good bra for my girls costs me upwards of $80, so I do manage with grannie bras for every day, no offense intended about the panties :oops: I'm so short waisted they would land somewhere below the girls and with no ass, I'd have too much fabric to creep into my crevasses. :lol:

[Deleted07]

A good bra for my girls costs me upwards of $80, so I do manage with grannie bras for every day, no offense intended about the panties :oops: I'm so short waisted they would land somewhere below the girls and with no ass, I'd have too much fabric to creep into my crevasses. :lol:

lol thats alright, I freely admit I wear them for comfort, NOT for looks!!! lol!

[AnnieC 305]

and granny bra's for the girls...

although admitedly I wear granny panties and granny bra's too! lol!!!

Almost suprised they don't wear these:

Don't give them ideas.

[crassy]

and granny bra's for the girls...

although admitedly I wear granny panties and granny bra's too! lol!!!

Almost suprised they don't wear these:

They would probably rather die than be seen in such heathen attire! Those bloody Mormons!

[crassy]

One hamper for all the kids so as to keep the clutter down. Yet their house is a fucking disaster area. Seeing their house and the way the Duggar kids sleep makes me slightly ill.