Every year parents spend hundreds of dollars on toys for their children. They buy the toys that they know their children will love and be excited about. But the excitement usually doesn't last for long. After a few weeks or maybe even a few days, the child has lost interest in the toy and you find it abandoned in the corner or under the bed, and your child is looking for their next new toy. So what can you do to keep your child's interest in their old toys? Listed below are four things that can help parents with this dilemma.

1. Don't buy too many toys at one time. You should resist the urge to overwhelm the child with too many new toys at one time, especially at Christmas time. It is ok to wait and buy some toys at a later date. Remember, if you give a child a lot of new toys at the same time, a few weeks later, they will all be old toys.

2. Rotate the toys. When you see that your child has lost interest in a toy, put it away out of view and out of reach of the child for a while. Bring it back out when the child asks for it or when you think he or she might be interested in it again.

3. Make an old toy new. You will be surprised at how adding an accessory or an extra part to an old toy can renew a child's interest in that toy. For example: Buy a new dress or outfit for a doll or add a few more blocks of different colors or shapes to their Lego set.

4. Play with your children. Taking time to play with kids is one of the best ways to regain interest in old toys. Just pick up an old toy and invite your child to play with you. This doesn't have to take a long time, sometimes 10- 15 minutes is enough to stir up interest in an old toy that they seem to have forgotten about.

We all know that children have very short attention spans, even when it comes to their favorite things. But with some of the price tags on toys today, it can be very disappointing to see a toy that you bought with your hard earned money abandoned in the corner. To avoid feeling like you wasted your money, use the ideas above to keep your child interested in their "old" toys.