Do you have too many toys?

When I first read this clipping from People magazine that talks about how many toys Americans have, I felt guilty as charged.

I thought that my own household probably has tons of toys that don’t get played with at all, and that my children would find it easier to occupy themselves in our house if they could only see the good stuff, but that the real treasures are probably sadly tangled with items they don’t care about.

I fantasized about an electronic system that would tally the percentage of playtime each of our toys get so that I could eliminate the least valuable items in our portfolio. (Hence the tagline of this site is “Two geeky girls’ guide to the first years of motherhood.”)

Then, before I sat down to post this clipping, I went into their playroom and looked around. Most of the stuff seemed pretty good. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I imagined. And,Â I’m embarrassed to say that the things they don’t use that are taking up space are LEGOs (I know, blasphemy!) and Thomas tracks and trains.

I always think that if I had curated the toy collection just right, our leisure time would be harmonious, no one would ask for the iPad, and clean up time would be a cinch.

I’m curious. What’s taking up space in your kid’s toy pile that doesn’t get used? Are you guilty of The Clutter Problem?

Related: See Charlie and Andy’s post about How to Commit the Perfect Toy Murder on How to Be A Dad.

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Whitney

RookieMoms.com co-founder Whitney lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she writes about parenting, crafts, and activities that moms can do with babies in tow. She and Heather also publish 510Families.com, a site for East Bay parents.