Having Less May Mean More

Sharing is having more, “less” may mean more.

Having repeated this phrase “Sharing is having more" to my older 3 kids for almost half a decade. I stopped to ponder as I begin to appreciate the statement more. My extended version “less” may mean more.

Have we had experience of buying new toys for our children, realize after a week or so, or sometimes merely a few days. They got bored and asked for more. I was chatting with another mummy the other day, she said that her children are getting smarter, they are getting bored with their new toys faster.

Points to ponder:

• Have we created children a sense of diminishing marginal utilities by introducing more new toys in a shorter span of time?
• Have we not given our children enough time to explore and re-explore their toys and materials?
• Are we too impatient to have them occupy their time quickly so that we could have our own time?

The above were my own reflections as a parent. I do not indulge my kids by buying new toys, but they do have new supply of toys after birthdays and Christmas Celebrations. After awhile, I stopped opening up the new boxes of toys. For people who knows me well, knows that I love to have an organized space. To my pleasant surprise, my children started to innovate and create with their existing pool of toys. Their play became engaging and extensive. They start to co-operate by using different toys like cars, Lego, dolls, kitchen toys to extend their play. 

There will be days when they engage in opening shops selling things or restaurant preparing interesting menus for the customers. If not, they would create different things with their Lego & Playdough. The latter were sometimes be props for their other role-plays. 

In the beginning stage, we might observe boredom in the children. However, have patience. Soon after they get over their boredom, the “less” things they have, would not work against them, but encourage them to create their own play experience.

Thus, sharing is having more, “less” may mean more!

The benefits of having less would be:

• Spending less in toys
• Expanding your children’s capacity as they create using “less” toys
• (if you have more than one child at home) allowing them to experience the authentic outcome of co-operation and sharing as they adapt to the circumstance of having “less”
• learning to treasure the things they have