Sorry, I get a bit glib when I'm excited,
. I see a lot of my own journey in what you write, and I'm trying to be helpful but I think I get carried away sometimes!
What I'm trying to get at is that it is natural for me to do what I think is the best, and being an thinking person I have done a lot of research and I try to follow some experts because I really believe it. BUT it doesn't fit my children. I don't discard it all - I still do a lot of things I believe are right but I need reminding not to be religious about it.
Toys are an area where I have done that, where I am still struggling with it. I know the post makes it sound like my children have mounds of toys, but really they don't and I have a very broad definition of toys to include the stuff we use for our homeschool and that sort of thing. But I have had to accept that they do need more to do than I would like to give them, if that makes sense.
I know what you mean about modern toys - there are so many really bad ones, and I don't buy them. Are you ok with duplo? You DD might be into that? It has been a lifesaver for us. I make exceptions for plastic toys that have a lot of possiblities.
Anyway, you sound like there is a lot on your plate right now, so be easy on yourself. And remember that in parenting, sometimes we must make exceptions to our ideals to survive. Take TV. I don't like my children watching TV, but when my son was about that age I used to put on something for a short while each day. I didn't like doing it, but the honest truth was it was better for him to spend 10 minutes doing that, and have a sane, refreshed mother for the rest of the day, than it was for him to spend all day with me frazzled.
So with your house, it might be better for your DD to spend a bit of time in the way Grinity suggests, or with TV, or with a babysitter, if it means that you will be happier/calmer/more settled once you get the house sorted.
Parenting is harder than I thought it would be too, and most people I knew thought I was just exagerrating.
Hang in there!
