On Instagram the other day, I saw another Instagram Mama post “why do I even buy my children toys?” Along with a short clip of her toddler daughter, whose favorite pastime is currently placing rocks in a bucket. I looked at my own toddler, who was at that moment walking around with a box on her head in a room where toys were always scattered across the floor, but never actually seemed to be played with.

“That’s an excellent question.” I thought to myself. Why do we buy our kids so many toys, when science says that the opposite is actually better for brain development. A woman I follow on YouTube called The Minimal Mom has often discussed how more toys can actually decrease your child’s creativity and increase how often you’ll hear those two dreaded words, “I’m bored.” I really enjoy her videos, and I find a lot of value in just the general idea of decreasing the volume of things I keep in my home, which has solved many more problems than I suspected it would.

So how many toys do your kids really need? The truth is that they do need things to play with, especially at a very young age, as most of a child’s learning is done through play. However, you don’t necessarily need baskets and shelves full of toys. A bucket of rocks works just as well to teach motor skills as anything specifically designed for that purpose. And how many times do we get our children big, expensive gifts only to find them, hours later, playing with the box? I’ll tell you when I was in preschool, one of my favorite toys was a refrigerator box with holes cut out for doors and windows. In my opinion, it could rival any playschool kitchen set.

But the most important thing to remember, as this holiday season is coming up, is that there is no number of toys, no gift that can replace the most important thing that your children need in order to grow and develop– time with you, their parent. Regardless of whatever else your child chooses to play with, their most treasured and beneficial plaything will always be you.