A Massachusetts mom has found an inspired way of keeping her 2-year-old son occupied with his toys for a little longer than most.
Kaylee Opatich, who lives in Boston with her husband and young son Grayson, is currently heavily pregnant with baby number two. During some recent downtime, she took to TikTok, posting under the username @kaylee.o17, to share her simple method for keeping things fresh for her young son when it comes to his toys.
"We live in a small house in Boston, so we don't have a lot of space, and kids accumulate a lot of stuff," Opatich told Newsweek via Zoom. "We also have a very generous family that blesses us with gifts. We try to keep things to a minimum and ask for small toys but then my dad will be like, 'Here's a big dinosaur' or something and we don't want to limit that."
Opatich hit upon a solution after being directed to a parent resource website promoting the Montessori method, which, among other things, encourages a more minimalist approach to life in the family home.
In this instance, the resource cited a 2017 University of Toledo study in which researchers compared the way a group of young children played in a room containing four toys and one in which there were 16. They found that, time-and-again, the toddlers engaged in deeper, more meaningful play when just four toys were available rather than 16.
"By giving them just a few toys to play with, it really engages their attention and lets them focus, instead of jumping from one to another because they're overstimulated," Opatich told Newsweek.
She set to work on doing something similar for Grayson by rotating his toys on a regular basis.
"I just took a whole bunch of stuff and put it in storage bins and put them in the basement," Opatich said. "So instead of 50 books on his shelf there were 15. Then, every six weeks old so I'll just bring the bins up and just swap them out. Or in his craft box he might have something like Play-Doh one month and kinetic sand the next."
Opatich said that rotating her son's toys has been "pretty easy to manage."
"Honestly, it takes maybe 30 minutes or so now that I have a process down. I think doing it every four to six weeks is the sweet spot for us," she said.
Allied to rotating his toys, Opatich also switches up the layout of Grayson's room. "The visual part is also really big for younger kids," she added. "It kind of sparks their interest a little bit more."
Opatich said she's definitely seen an improvement in Grayson's play as a result, noting that his attention span and focus on what he plays with has increased.
She does admit, however, that it's not always easy to find the "energy" to go down to the basement, pull up the bins carrying his other toys and switch it all around.
"In the beginning I'm always like 'I don't not want to do this,' but you see the reward," she said.
Opatich also admits having extra storage space is crucial. "If you didn't have a basement or extra closets, I could see that being difficult," she added.
However, she would thoroughly recommend this minimalist approach and has even begun adopting a similar approach to things around the rest of the home.
"I've noticed that being in a minimal house has made me less anxious. I used to arrange 17 pillows on our bed and then one day I was like 'why am I doing this,'" Opatich said. "I have definitely kind of made it a mission to minimalize and organize our house in the last year or so, and it has helped a lot."
Opatich has no plans to stop rotating her son's toys any time soon and hopes her approach inspires others to try something that will "make their lives a little bit easier."
"What I'm doing might not work for you know everyone, but if it works for a few people, if it makes their life easier and more enjoyable, then I love that," she said. "Just have fun with it."
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