Baskets and the Work They Do
We love baskets in our home, and boxes, and bins. While I enjoy a good lookin’ basket, that’s not what fuels my appreciation for them. It’s not even the items they hold that cause me to appreciate baskets. I appreciate baskets because of what the basket represents to the person whose items it holds.
I realize some of you may feel like I’m thinking way too deeply about baskets. Of course I am. But, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It’s part of why I started this blog, to have a place to share the things I’m thinking on, that I believe have value and can add value to your life. And I think baskets [and really anything like a box or bin that holds things---but we will lump all of these under the term basket for now] are something that can add value and are definitely endearing.
When I try to count in my head, I estimate that we have around fifty in our home and they each serve a different purpose. I’ll be doing a follow up post later with the details about the different baskets we have and love, what’s in them, and how they make life easier. But for now, I wanna talk about the greater tension that’s always at play in our home. Our family consists of five members. Two of our members are adults who are very capable of keeping things neat and tidy and the other three are boys, littleboys. Our oldest one is only five years old. So, we all live under the same roof [errrrr….the same floor of the apartment above us],but whose home is it? Mine and Seth’s? Yes! Sweet. So that means everything will be picked up, at all times, and we can have the order and peace we thrive on. Oh wait, what? Isn’t is also J, P and E’s home? Yes! You’re right. Okay, okay, so that means there should be mass chaos, all of the time, and toys and books everywhere, and there should also be snacks strategically placed on the floor, throughout the house, and even crushed into bite size peices for their enjoyment? This is the tension. This is our home. This is their home. We are not into the same things and we do not go about life in a similar way in this season. This is the tension we live in, and that most people live in if you share a home with anyone, regardless of who it is. We are each incredibly unique and see things differently, are bothered by different things and go about processes differently. In come baskets (or decorative but functional boxes or bins). We use baskests in such a way that everyone in our home has a home for their things and therefore feel at home in this space. Not only that, baskets allow us to either provide or prohibit access to certain things for our boys.
In our living room, we have five baskets. One of them is huge and beautiful (only $15 from T.J. Maxx) and always holds at least two blankets, unless they’re being used. This provides warmth and invitation for all who dwell within these walls. Those blankets, in the accessible basket, provide a longstanding invitation to grab one, curl up on the couch and get cozy. And guys, my two older boys do it all the time. They love to grab one and take it on the porch and bundle up or just lay in the floor underneath it… or build forts, obviously. And I love that they feel at home here and know they are welcome to do that. Plus, rolled up blankets in a basket just look pretty. Am I right?
Four of the baskets are tucked into a small console (two are visible and two are hidden behind cabinet doors). These are full of the boys stuff. One of the visible ones contains all their cars. You better believe they dump them out every morning. (I grab my morning coffee, they grab the basket of cars.) They will play for so long with cars and they play together and it’s precious. I love that without asking for help, they have access to one of their favorite things. And the best part? They’re pretty good at helping clean them up because all they have to do is throw them in a basket and J is even able to return the basket to it’s home. The other visible basket is full of wipes, diapers and pull ups. Because I don’t know about you other mamas reading this, but I’m a lay ‘em down on the floor diaper changer and the basket is at the perfect height to grab those things mid diaper change. E has even started going and getting one when he needs a clean diaper! And behind the cabinets are more toys. Paw Patrol and Rescue Bot Transformers, just to name a few. All accessible to them and yet all easily hidden out of sight.
And there you have it, a loving resolution to the tension of it being their home and our home. We have our peace and order and they have their favorite items. Those items being accesible in our main living space are an endearing way to show them, you are welcome here. You are loved in this place. You are safe. Safe to come and go as you please. Be entertained and rest as you’d like. You are welcome to just be, whatever that looks like. Because this is your home, too.
I should mention, for those of you wondering what kind of loosey goosey parenting system we operate by, we do have boundaries and we do set limits and we are constantly trying to train them up in each season and stage, accordingly. And there are baskets that hold things (like tons of costume beads) that aren’t accessible to them. But I’ll be one of the first to acknowledge that how we parent and how we operate our home does look different than others. And I’m okay with that. Genuine hospitality and love for people are an enormous part of the identity of our family, and something we want to instill in our children. And if we don’t start by displaying that personally and intentionally to those who dwell within our walls, then I think we’re missing it.
So I admit it, I’m a basket case. And I’ll just leave that there for interpretation. If you want all the details about how we use baskets in our home and ideas regarding all things bins and baskets, check out this post!
Also, Here’s the link to this week's pun design! I sock at this.
