Over the years Josiah has done a great job of decluttering our home. We have very little ‘stuff” lying around. If you look closely, you’ll notice, no end tables, no lamps, very few decorations of any kind. Those things used to be magnets, attracting Josiah’s attention.  He felt it necessary to see how far he could throw them.

That boy LOVES to knock things over. He repeatedly throws his kitchen chair to the ground. Often,  he scans counter tops for things to throw. Occasionally, at school, he overturns chairs and tables. When he was too little to reach the fireplace mantle, Josiah would hurl a sock or a shirt in that general direction, attempting to knock over figurines.

Last week, he wandered upstairs (twice) and threw the flat screen TV to the ground.  The TV stand broke.  The TV survived. It’s still face down on the carpet. We rarely watched it. I suppose this is my way of removing his temptation.

Josiah’s favorite fascination happens to be the kitchen trash can.  It’s big. It’s metal.  It makes a loud clanking sound when it crashes against the ceramic tile floor. Most days, thankfully, he seems to forget all about it. But, on those days when he remembers, Josiah has laser focused attention on that trash can. He chunks the trash can to the ground over and over and over again. On those days when he remembers, I hide the trash can in the laundry room wash tub.

Josiah watches.  He sees me when I whisk it away.  He knows exactly where I’m hiding it. He’s tried many times to pull it out of the wash tub and on at least one occasion has succeeded.

You may be thinking we should just get a different trash can.  One we could tuck away in the pantry or in a cabinet. You’re probably right. But, we’re keeping the one we have.  I have a new approach. When Josiah is intent on playing with the trash can and hiding it doesn’t work, I remove the trash bag and metal can, leaving just the liner and let him at it.

It takes so little to make that boy happy.