Becoming a Minimalist Momma…Sort of

One of the misconceptions I had about minimalist parenting is the idea that children would be deprived of toys. I thought about these poor toyless souls, ambling about the house, direction-less and in dire need of plastic, flashing, sound enhanced fun. However, when I actually thought about how many toys my kids had, I confess I realized that most were just filling boxes in their rooms and not really played with that often. A lot of the toys are missing some pieces are have too many pieces to bother playing with at all and often, my kids are ambling about house direction-less anyway…so…hmmm.

The aim of miniamalist parenting is to increase the peace and maximize your time so that it can be spent in ways that are enriching to you and your family. Think about how often you are picking up stuff (bending down repeatedly and putting away) and how many times a day you do it to keep your sanity. What about clothes, dishes, toys, books, things laying around…how many times a day do you move it, clean it and otherwise spend your day occupied by it. When I sat down to do a rough calculation I freaked. Well, imagine not having to spend as much time doing the cleaning, putting away and organizing.

reSPACEd is a cool blog that helps you find better ways to organize the clutter and rethink your possessions.

Minimalist parents encourage buying wooden simple toys (um, having a hard time committing to that one) or spending money on one large quality item. If you need additional toys for Christmas or birthdays, think of renewable resources, consumable items or things that won’t continue to clutter homes and lives.

There are some great ideas on The Green Baby Guide

Some ideas include wooden toys, recycled toys, ways to rethink toy clutter and consumerism. It also gives ideas for creating a more peaceful environment for your children.

Some of the minimalist concepts highlighted throughout my research were things such as….

Since the majority of children get their materialist inspiration from commercials programmed to play on their desires, they become obsessed with what they need to have, versus, treasuring what they already own. By providing DVD’s, computer movies and going to the library to check out books and movies, children can avoid the subliminal messages that are created to help promote capitalism and consumer spending.

While providing outside enrichment for your kids is vital, they don’t need soccer, dance, baseball, art, playdates, park visits etc. If you feel like you are hauling your kids from one event to the other, chances are you have overtaxed their schedule as well as yours.

Instead, think of the one thing that your child is really good at or loves and encourage them to enjoy building on their passion for that subject.

Get your kids out in nature, doing simple, naturally inspired things and help them slow down and just observe, listen and participate in the world around them. These are skills that will help them combat stress later in life.

In addition to your big ticket item or as rewards for good behavior, grades etc, give  homemade, consumable/reusable gifts such as play dough which can eventually be throw out or composted. Biodegradable art supplies, such as hemp paper, beeswax crayons, recycled pens.  And give the gift of experiences, such as a special trip or outing versus a plastic, loud, toy of the month.

Homemade Play Dough

makes about 2.5 Cups

1 1/2 cups of flour
3/4 cups of salt
1 1/2 cups water
1 TB vegetable oil
1/2 TB cream of tarter
*food coloring – I use the liquid kind

Mix all of the ingredients into a saucepan. Add the food coloring to your liking. – Children can help with this step

Adults only –
Set your stove top to medium-low (about a 2.5 on a glass top stove). Stand by the pan and stir occasionally. When the batter look is gone and the ingredients start staying together when you stir (5-8 minutes), remove the pan from the heat. Lay out some wax paper and scoop play dough onto the wax paper. I can usually start kneading right away, but make sure that you check the dough for heat – you don’t want to burn yourself!

Another great site is

Becoming a minimalist which is a blog that helps to highlight to perspective on minimalist parenting and lifestyle.

While I am not ready to live with only a bowl, a spoon and a chair and nor am I ready to baby wear all of my children (yes, I read about a woman who has never owned a stroller, has four children and wears two of them at a time….NO THANKS!) Even though I love to babywear, I can’t think of wearing more than one kid at a time. 🙂 More on that in the next blog…

I am ready…to um….think about starting to live like this….hey, its a step.