By, Kristie Valentin
I walked past our toy shelf this morning, and it dawned on me: Nobody has played with the Little People for years.
Cleaning up parts from the Little People used to be a regular trial for me. They were everywhere: under the deep freeze; in the boot trays; under every piece of furniture or equipment in the basement. Every so often we would have a purging, and my kids all remember the torture of being assigned to sort, throw away, sweep, and organize. But to our dismay, the mess would creep back within days: a plastic wagon wheel; a tiny hat; miniature rolls of hay; a horse with a chipped mane--until they took over the basement again, like a zombie invasion. I would threaten to throw things away, but suddenly everyone loved the Little People, and so the village was saved from the Mean Angry Mom.
And then one day, they got picked up for the last time, and they have sat on a shelf ever since.
Although I'm tempted to be sentimental, I honestly do not miss the mess of those tiny parts lurking in every nook and cranny of our basement. But the basket sitting undisturbed reminds me that as our kids grow up, there are things that go away (like Little People toys scattered everywhere), and there are things that stick around a lot longer (like the memories of the times I got too harsh . . . about those Little People toys scattered everywhere).
Your relationship with your own "little people" is a whole lot more important than the messes they make with their Little People.
Choose what matters today, because little people don't stay little.