Hello and welcome back to the Simplicity Diaries with me, Kim John Payne. Glad you could carve out a moment to join us again today. This week I've been having more sort of thoughts that are a little more expanded or global perhaps about raising children simply and in a balanced way.
It's related a little bit to the sort of macro-micro of this whole theme because on a micro level, a little level, we're doing what we can to live in a balanced way with our kids. On a macro, on a big picture level, I think what we're doing is affecting all kinds of change. And one of the changes that we're affecting is our environment, is climate change, global warming.
And I know those two things might, you know, linking the two might seem strange. But when we, for example, limit the number of toys and books and clothes that we buy for children and we start really thinking about that, like, is this essential? Is what I'm about to buy for my child, is it essential? Now, our motivation might be we don't want clutter at home, right? But for many of us, in the back of our mind is, you know, is this really good for the environment? Do I need another plastic something or rather of merchandising for some new movie or whatever is in vogue at the moment? You see, when we push back against that buying of just senseless toys, for example, then we're making a stand for the environment. When we push back against buying senseless clothes or clothes that are just the price of them is just too good to be true.
It is too good to be true. It often comes and it's sourced in places that just do not have good practices for the people making those clothes. So we make a stand there, not just for climate change, but also for social change.
When we push back in this way, or at least pause before getting involved in consumerism, we're really making a change in the way in which our family goes about it and goes about buying, goes about consuming, goes about our whole way of life. And it sends a powerful message to our kids that what we're about in terms of buying material things is actually about what is essential, what is inessential, what is just simply not essential. And when we do that more and more, and it just becomes a family habit, it's just a really positive family habit.
Sooner rather than later, you start to see your children do the same sort of thing. They will pause before they buy. And I've had this kind of feedback from so many parents who are just delighted at their children learning to, firstly, to discern, do I really need this? And secondly, what that's doing is cultivating impulse control.
It's cultivating that crucial ability to delay, to see, do I really need this? Or if I do, do I need it now? There was one little boy who was a good example of this, where they were with his dad in a sports store, and he saw something that he really wanted. It was a kind of fancy, specially colored baseball mitt. And he was looking at it, and the dad could see him checking it out.
When the dad went over and said, what are you looking at? He said, I've got this baseball mitt, and I think I really, really want it. But I don't need it yet because I'm not playing like baseball yet. We're just doing sort of catch and stuff.
But could we come back and get it when I really need it? The dad emailed me this short description, just with exclamation marks and all kinds, like, yay, you know, we've done it. Because what we've done is that we have grown that kind of that muscle of being able to delay and being able to anticipate so that when the moment is right, then the acquisition of the baseball mitt can happen. And that is such a crucial skill in life.
But coming full circle, in a very small way, you know, when we start to discern what we consume in the name of balancing and simplifying our children's lives, we're actually invisibly, without needing to get on our soapbox about it, we're invisibly making one little step for the planet, for the planet we live on and care so much for, for our beautiful home. So when we make our home beautiful, by having more spaciousness, less stuff, we're kind of also making the planet beautiful in a in a in a tiny little way. So every time you ask yourself, do we really need this? Is this really essential? I think that's just that's just one, one point one score for the planet.
And, and we can just have that sense of, in this little way, little invisible way, I am, I'm being effective in what I do for climate change, for the protection of our planet, for plastic ending up in the, in the seas and just choking the creatures of the sea. In so many ways, what we're doing is contributing to a kinder and and better and more sustainable planet. Okay, I hope that was helpful.
It's a little bit big picture thing, but it really does come down to the small little daily deed. Okay, bye bye for now.
