Re: Clutter
"The Children Are an Easy Cure; You're Not
We, the adults are the root of the problem here. Until children are about nine or ten years old, they don't really have much control over the amount of clutter they have. Just about everything they have comes from us.... We determine what and how much there is and where it stays!
In my dejunking seminar presentations, as I'm heaping on the guilt about all of the junk in the average home, I make the statement, 'and your children have 75 percent more toys than they need.' That always gets an instant affirmative head nodding from the crowd.... until I say, 'Yes, folks, and you know why? You gave them all that!'
In the spirit of 'Be good and I will bring you home/buy you some junk,' millions of parents each day heap on little Brandon and Brittany some of the most worthless stuff imaginable.... We give kids things to compensate, regulate, and sedate them.... Even a fast-food trip has now become a fast way to getting more junk!
The kids are at a real disadvantage when it comes to dejunking their rooms. The only example they have is ours. They've watched us getting stuff and stacking it on the shelf and under the bed, and when the drawers and containers (and garage and storage shed) are full, they've gone with us to get more drawers and containers! We've even reprimanded them for using perfectly good junk storage boxes to make pirate ships and hideouts!"
(stay tuned for part two)
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