When you have a baby, you start to accumulate stuff. So much stuff. Babies need a lot of things. That's why we have baby showers.

But by the time your baby is three years old, you've got so much stuff that you need to start getting rid of some of the now useless baby items. And you know your preschooler isn't going to give up any of it.

My daughter is three and half. She has no need for her Pack N Play or her infant car seat. She just knows they're hers, and she used to use them when she was a baby. She's already nostalgic. She did not want me to get rid of her things, but it was all taking up too much space.

Luckily, my friend is pregnant with her first baby, and it's a girl! The easiest solution to getting all of our baby stuff out of the house was to pile all of it into her Jeep and let her use all of it for her new baby.

I thought about having her come over to get everything while my daughter was out of the house so she wouldn't protest. But I realized this was an opportunity to teach her about giving and how it can make you feel good to give.

We sat down and talked about how we aren't throwing away these things. They're going to baby M. And she is going to use them.

I had her help me sort through her old baby clothes and baby toys. I asked her if she wanted to give them to baby M, and she mostly said yes. There were a few things she said she wanted to keep. There was no saying no to the big items that were cluttering up the guest bedroom. We talked about how she can't use it anymore, and wouldn't it make her happy to let the baby use it?

When my friend came to get everything she let my daughter touch her belly to feel the baby. That was when she was really on board with giving her things away.

She really enjoyed the process of learning to give to someone that needs the things she loved. And she's very excited to meet her new friend.

For more about mom life and parenting visit my blog Toot's Mom is Tired.