Less Is More【少即是多】

Less Is More

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

成年人知道被物品淹没的感觉。

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

那么为什么我们在对待孩子和他们的所有物时却觉得越多越好呢？

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

好消息是我可以帮助自己的孩子比我更早地学会以更少的物品体验更好的生活。

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

我发现节前是一个很好的时机，可以鼓励孩子捐赠一些不常用的东西，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.

由于我们的努力，我们的女儿Georgia将一大袋玩具捐给了一个小女孩，小女孩的母亲因病无法给她买节日礼物。

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).

当我们承诺将钱放入她的学校基金里后，她选择卖掉一些更大件的不常用的物品（我们还在上幼儿园的女儿对于成为医生这件事是很认真的）。

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

几个星期以来，我一直在思考更大、更深层次的问题：

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

我们该如何让这件事成为他们的习惯？以及我们如何训练自己去帮助他们学会适应、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，我和我儿子Shepherd坐在一起，决心验证一下我自己的理论。

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

我决心只和他玩一个玩具，只要它能保持他的兴趣。

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

我预计一个玩具能让他的注意力集中五分钟，十分钟最多了。

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

我选了一个到处都有的、设计简单的红色橡皮球。

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

我们传递球，他试着将球放进嘴巴里，也试着拍，滚，坐在上面，扔球。

It was totally, completely enough for him.

这对他来说已经完全足够了。

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

不知不觉一个小时过去了，到了该吃午饭的时候了。

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

我们都沉浸在一起玩耍的简单的快乐之中，只注意着彼此。

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

我在单个物体上寻找快乐的小实验对我们俩都有效。

2018年全国III卷D