The Engelharts have introduced trade-offs into other aspects of their children’s lives as well. The family has established a toy equilibrium where any time a new one arrives on a birthday or through a purchase, an older one goes to the children’s hospital where their mother, Talia, works. The Engelhart children understand that they have enough toys and that overall growth in their collection probably won’t improve their lives all that much. So they think each time about which ones are most valuable, and whether a toy for playing outside that only gets used six or eight months out of the year
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