5 Ways to Persuade Your Kids to Donate Their Toys

Even one child is enough for you to find your house suddenly inundated with toys. Families have a way of slowly accruing more and more toys, of a whole range of shapes and sizes. Apart from cluttering the house, causing dust and generally being a nuisance, there are also very good reasons to get rid of a few toys. When you have so many in your house that your kids don’t feel the added benefit of each, it might be time to start thinking about donating to those less fortunate. It can be a real challenge to persuade your little ones that this is the right thing to do, so here are a few ways to go about it.

1. Build It Up as a Tradition
   If, from when your offspring are very little, even only a year old you are able to introduce a routine of giving away certain toys which have fallen out of favor, they are far less likely to ever cause a fuss over it in years to come. Anything which we grow up with being set in stone has a hold over us as we get older. So, this is a pretty good habit to get your kids into from as soon as they are old enough to have a collection of toys.

2. Do It Around Christmas or Birthday Time
   Picking these times of year to donate toys can bring some unforeseen benefits. For a start, your kids are about to receive gifts and toys anyway. Another benefit is it allows you to bring in an element of thinking about other children and their situations, eagerly awaiting birthdays and Christmas times too. You can sell the idea that your child’s toys will make others less fortunate get excited about receiving a gift too.

3. Inspire and Teach Empathy
   Related to the point above, using toy donations as a good little case study in empathy can be a great way to get your child to display it and to even learn what it is. You should ask your child to imagine that they didn’t have any toys and that their parents couldn’t afford to buy them. Ask them how they might feel and if receiving a good as new toy would help them feel better or happy in that situation. Empathy is an important life skill, so it’s a great way to practice it.

4. Reward Them
   If your child does do a good job at giving up some of their toys and not complain about it, you should reward them. With young children, rewarding positive behavior is preferable to punishing negative behavior, so when the opportunity arises, take it.

5. Make A Challenge Out of It
   Get your children to go on a hunt around the house to find any and all toys which could be considered unnecessary or unwanted. Then see how many points each of them gets based on their collection and reward them!

Conclusion

It will likely be a bit of a struggle, but finding where you can save space, clean up your house and benefit the lives of those with considerably less than you makes donating toys worthwhile. Get your kids involved and you’ll teach them a lesson that can last a lifetime.

Chloe Bennet is an educator from Essayroo and BoomEssays services. She researches new teaching trends and reviews latest edtech gadgets. Chloe tutors at UKWritings academic website.