Now like a lot of people with children we have accumulated a lot of stuffed toys over the years. They are commonly referred to in this house as "The guys".
As the children have grown the guys have been in and out of favour and while my daughter (DP) has quite a number of guys arrayed around her bedroom there are some that have gravitated to the games room and sit or sprawl on shelves or the floor or on other games depending on where they were last left.
It occurred to my unthinking adult brain that since they don't play with at least some of these guys then it would be reasonable to ask them to say which of them they didn't want to keep. So I asked them to come into the games room to tell me, no pressure, which they wanted to keep and which of them could go.
Well we started well enough. The elephant (not seen above) can go.
Dad - How about Clifford the big red dog?
Kids - OK we don't need him.
D - Sleepy?
K - Get rid of him and Doc.
D - Tramp?
K - Um. OK he can go too.
We got through about seven or eight when I noticed that DP was looking less and less happy about this process and in fact had a single tear forming that rolled down her cheek as I watched. I told her we didn't have to get rid of any of them if she wanted but that I needed to know so I can find space for them. After a hug and a few deep breaths I asked DP what was wrong and if she thought I was asking her to put her childhood behind her. She nodded and took a few more deep breaths and we agreed that with the exception of the elephant we would keep them all.
So the tidying process stalled and it seems I will need more cupboard space than originally expected for some of the games and guys that we are not going to get rid of yet. It's actually quite a big house that we live in but it has so little storage space, despite various efforts over the years to either add more or throw stuff out.
I'm not sure what lesson I could take from this. Maybe just a reminder that growing older doesn't automatically mean growing up.
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