Bye, Bye Toys!

Everyday I watch my oldest, Carson, play with the same toys, over and over. Not only does he play with the same things, but he plays with them in the same ways. There's little imagination. He doesn't watch TV everyday, but watches Veggie Tales at times or Super Why and it seems he only mimics those things he sees. He has little imagination of his own. At the previously mentioned play date I noticed that the other child who is his same age had a great imagination and really played with the toys he chose. He made up games and Carson was more than happy to join in, but Carson was not the one coming up with the ideas. They played school and then the pretended to be zoo animals after reading a book about the zoo.

I'm the first to admit that my boys have way too many toys. Many toys are packed up and some they've never laid eyes on. It is ridiculous. Nathan does enjoy playing with one thing for awhile and seems to be more creative, but I'm worried about Carson.

So, here's the plan. This weekend when they head to bed on Saturday night, the toys are going to disappear. There will be some cars and trucks left out, their big school bus, some play kitchen items, puzzles, and of course books, but what more do they really need? I figure they can have those and only those for a month or so and then those things can get tossed into totes and I'll pull out a few other things. Am I mean to just pack it up? I'm not pitching it, but the teacher in me knows that it's the right thing for them. It's just hard to take things from them (well him mostly, Nathan could care less). So I want to hear your comments. How many toys do your kids have? Do they really "play" with everything? Do they have great imaginations (Carson is 3, by the way). Am I a mean Mommy? Any other toys I should leave out? Come on, speak up. Good or bad, I'd like to know.