Yesterday, I overheard our 9-year-old son, Aaron, talking to his friend, Zach. "Oh, God!" Zach began, peering in Aaron's closet. "Where are all your toys?" "Oh, we are doing something called 'Simplicity Plan' , so I basically got rid of 80% of my staff." "What? Did your mom and dad make you do this?" "No. I decided to do it because I wanted to. When I give away a lot of my things, I have time for family activities. I did it because I wanted to live differently and have less staff in my life."  "But still, why would you choose to get rid of most of your toys?" "Part of the reason is that my parents were doing it with their stuff. And my mom talked to me about it and explained how they felt happier afterwards. And I thought maybe I really had spent a lot of my time in my room playing with toys instead of spending time with my parents and sister." "I feel proud because I am a person who has just what I need and not more. And I'm starting new activities like writing how I feel, reading more, and spending more time doing housework around the house." "Ok. Let me get this straight. You have fewer toys, more housework, and you feel happier?" "Well, it's not that the housework is fun. But I do it with my parents. We talk and connect while we are doing it, so that is the fun. And we've been doing more activities together, like reading aloud at night. And on weekends, we have conversations or go out together, instead of my dad being at his computer, my mom cleaning and me playing with my toys." "Maybe you are right." Why did Aaron give away most of his toys?
Because he didn't like them. Because his parents made him do it. Because he had no time to play with them. Because he wanted to spend more time with his families.