If you walk into my house on a random Tuesday, you’ll probably trip on something plastic before you even say hello.
Four kids + Amazon Prime + grandparents who think “one more gift won’t hurt” = a toy situation that could qualify as a natural disaster.
For years, I thought toys were toys.
If it lit up, beeped, blasted music, and talked in five languages, it must be good for development, right?
Wrong.
So wrong.
🎁 The day everything clicked
One afternoon, I watched my daughter — who owns enough toys to open a small preschool — sit on the floor with… a cardboard box.
Not the expensive educational toy I bought.
Not the trendy stacking thing that all the Instagram moms swore by.
Not the sensory kit that cost more than my grocery bill.
A cardboard box.
And she played with it for 45 minutes straight — which in kid time is basically a college degree.
She made it a car.
Then a “restaurant.”
Then a home for her stuffed animals.
Her imagination was doing all the work… not the toy.
That day, I learned the uncomfortable truth:
Kids don’t need more.
They need better.
🌿 What “better” actually means
Better doesn’t mean expensive.
It doesn’t mean brand-name.
It doesn’t mean the toys that scream “LEARNING!” in giant letters on the box.
It means toys that let kids:
Create
Pretend
Explore
Solve problems
Use their imagination
In our house, that looks like:
Blocks
Play kitchen
Art supplies
Figurines
Sensory bins
A bin of random lids and containers (don’t ask, it works)
Meanwhile, the expensive “smart” toy?
It lasted 2.5 days before someone lost the charger forever.
💛 The emotional side no one talks about
When you’ve carried the weight of the harder parts of motherhood…
you find yourself overthinking everything.
You want to give your kids the world.
You want to make up for everything you lost.
Every toy feels like a tiny way to show love.
But the truth is?
Kids remember moments more than things.
My kids don’t talk about the giant blinking robot I bought.
They talk about the day we built a “castle” out of couch cushions and ate snacks inside like royalty.
🏡 The real gift
Simple toys create space for connection.
And connection is what actually builds a childhood.
So now, when I’m overwhelmed by the mountain of toys in my living room, I remind myself:
Less noise.
More imagination.
More moments.
And maybe a few cardboard boxes saved for emergencies.
Love
Sara
A mother of 4 of the cutest children. I have seen the ups and downs in motherhood. Subscribe to this newsletter to hear my raw and honest thoughts on the joys and chaos of motherhood.
