I love the concept of 'tools and toys.' We' have been applying it around our house a lot. My husband likes it and my kids like it. It helps us to find value in things more, there is less waste and a greater responsibility to the things we have. Since we have tried to go down to our needs and wants this concepts has helped us take better care of our things.
So what are tools and toys? Tools are things that have a distinct purpose and job. A fork, a hammer, a CD player, a piano, a car, etc these are all tools. A toy is something specifically used for entertaining us.
There are of course tools that are used as toys. I have to remind our kids regularly during meal time that their butter knives are not swords. We've spend a lot of time evaluating how we treat things in our house. Too often we use the tools as toys and tools. They end up getting misplaced and/or broken. We can eliminate waste if we are taking care to keep tools as tools.
I believe that the Lord does not want us to be wasteful with what he has given us and as I've mentioned in a previous post we spend too much time in core phase and therefore tend to turn everything into toys.
I've written several posts that will be published over the next couple of days that weigh in on some of my thoughts regarding certain things. Of course these are only my ideas! It has been fun over the last several months to think about all everything we are surrounded by and what its purpose truly is!
3 comments:
We have an issue here about taking care of tools in the home. My husband has bought two sets of socket wrenches and a new set of drill bits because my youth did not take care of the original ones and they became lost in the yard while they worked on projects. Needless to say, they had to work for dad to pay him back.
I've also been reconsidering the use of what we have in our home. It is interesting evaluating why you have what you have and if it would be better to not have it :-)
I'm amazed at the things I used to let my children play with, drag around the house, and ruin. Now whenever my two year old reaches for something it's easy for me to think, "She's not going to take care of this so she's not allowed to touch it." What a lot of grief it saves me!
But it's still tempting to let her look at books even though I know the minute my back is turned she will start ripping it apart. I have to force myself to take them away from her.
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