It can feel like a major pressure in life. If you have paying extortionate rent costs, outgoings you’re unable to escape from, and children that want the latest toys, something has to give. But it can feel like you’re breaking their heart somewhat by not giving them all the toys that they want. But is this to do with the fact that our children have become more materialistic? Instead, we should think about encouraging them in other ways to develop themselves, which, at the same time, doesn’t cost much money. Granted, it can seem like you are being tight-fisted, but if you don’t have the money to spend on numerous toys, you’ve got to encourage them to be more self-sufficient, and resilient, in terms of play. So how can we encourage our children to enjoy more free play (in terms of freedom and being less costly) and the various ideas associated with it, so they develop their skill set, and you can save money?
Getting Them Involved In Crafts
Simple, effective, but most importantly, cheap! Getting involved in crafts is the perfect way for them to develop parts of their brain they wouldn’t normally with toys. Of course, there are so many benefits of being creative, and now, many schools push the idea of free play in the traditional sense and expressing themselves through creativity. But when you have children that are used to things like video games, it can be quite a transition. But if you look at the article What is Virtual Reality?, you will see a suggestion of making a Virtual Reality headset using basic items. Granted, it may not have the same impact as a real, expensive Virtual Reality headset, but encouraging your children to use their imagination, and to make it whatever they want, can start to bridge the gap. Crafts and creativity are things that need to be nurtured as young as possible. And in this day and age, where children are weaned on computer games from day one, we’ve got to strike the right balance.
Making The Most Of What They’ve Already Got
Children want the newest items, and if we give in and keep buying them the latest toys, we are making a rod for own back. At the same time, if we have grandparents that continue to spoil our children, this can make them mistakenly believe that they will get gifts every couple of weeks. Instead, the answer might lie in what they’ve already got. As parents, we have to provide the boundaries, and if our children think they will get new toys all the time, the balance lies in us not spoiling them, but still getting them gifts on birthdays, Christmas, and special events, but a healthier amount. But you still need to encourage your children to make the most of what they already have. There is a distinct lack of imagination these days, because of things like video games. And if we get children to make the most of what they got, this is a habit that they can carry through their formative years.
Encouraging More Substantial Friendships
This is a difficult one. Encouraging your children to form friendships with people is all well and good, but if they feel they lack in the latest toys or video games, it’s likely that they will make friends with people who have all those things, consciously or subconsciously. This is not a friendship based on anything substantial. But if you crack it, and encourage your children to play with other kids in an environment away from computers and expensive toys, after a while, they develop their own sense of play, without needing to sit in front of a computer all day long. It’s very difficult because of mobile phones and the like, and it could be a battle that we lose, but if this is the case, we’ve got to lay down the law. We don’t have the money, and if our children think that we can just buy them new toys whenever, then we’ve got to send them a clear message. At Christmas, you could tell them that they can only pick one toy out of the many they’ve listed. And if they are young enough, you could use the Santa excuse that he “hasn’t got enough room on his sleigh.” Food for thought.
If you start early enough, and work hard to encourage them to be more self-sufficient, to use free play, and to make the most of what they’ve already got, this helps you to save money, but also help your children develop better. There are benefits to things like computer games, but by using their imagination, this is where they will have a better quality of life.
