Less Is More

Adults understand what it feels like to be flooed with objects.

成年人知道被物品淹沒的感覺。

Why do we often assume that more is more when it comes to kids and their belongings?

那麼為什麼我們在對待孩子和他們的所有物時卻覺得越多越好呢？

The good news is that I can help my own kids learn earlier that I did how to live more with less.

好訊息是我可以幫助自己的孩子比我更早地學會以更少的物品體驗更好的生活。

I found the pre-holidays a good time to ecourage young children to donate less-used things, and it worked.

我發現節前是一個很好的時機，可以鼓勵孩子捐贈一些不常用的東西，而且效果很好。

Because of our efforts, our daughter Georgia did decide to donate a large bag of toys to a

little girl whose mother was unable to pay for her holiday due to illness.

由於我們的努力，我們的女兒Georgia將一大袋玩具捐給了一個小女孩，小女孩的母親因病無法給她買節日禮物。

She chose to sell a few larger objects that were less often used when we promised to 

put the money into her school fund (our kindergarten daughter is serious about becoming a doctor).

當我們承諾將錢放入她的學校基金裡後，她選擇賣掉一些更大件的不常用的物品（我們還在上幼兒園的女兒對於成為醫生這件事是很認真的）。

For weeks, I've been thinking of bigger, deeper questions:

幾個星期以來，我一直在思考更大、更深層次的問題：

How do we make it a habit for them? And how do we train ourselves to help them live with, need, and use less?

我們該如何讓這件事成為他們的習慣？以及我們如何訓練自己去幫助他們學會適應、需要以及使用地更少？

Yesterday, I sat with my son, Shepherd, determined to test my own theory on this.

昨天，我和我兒子Shepherd坐在一起，決心驗證一下我自己的理論。

I decide to play with his with only one toy for as long as it would keep his interest.

我決心只和他玩一個玩具，只要它能保持他的興趣。

I expected that one toy would keep his attention for about five minutes, ten minutes, max.

我預計一個玩具能讓他的注意力集中五分鐘，十分鐘最多了。

I chose a read rubber ball-simple, universally available.

我選了一個到處都有的、設計簡單的紅色橡皮球。

We passed it, he tried to put it in his mouth, he tried bouncing it, rolling it, sitting on it, throwing it.

我們傳遞球，他試著將球放進嘴巴里，也試著拍，滾，坐在上面，扔球。

It was totally, completely enough for him.

這對他來說已經完全足夠了。

Before I knew it an hour had passed and it was time to move on to lunch.

不知不覺一個小時過去了，到了該吃午飯的時候了。

We both became absorbed in the simplicity of playing together. He had my full attention and I had his.

我們都沉浸在一起玩耍的簡單的快樂之中，只注意著彼此。

My little experiment to find joy in a single object worked for both of us.

我在單個物體上尋找快樂的小實驗對我們倆都有效。

2018年全國III卷D