Time flies! We’ve literally just opened our Christmas presents, and now suddenly we’re heading for another season, Easter and the school holidays. Most people look forward to the break that all the long weekends bring, while others are starting to feel anxious about the next school holidays that seem to appear suddenly out of nowhere! Besides the fact that children will need to be entertained more often, a lot of parents are faced once again with the current clutter chaos that was and will expand over this time.
Children are in constant transition, from the day they are born they grow, passing through many phases, each needing different clothes, food, medication, beds, bedding, toys, educational tools, books, games and so on. The list is endless. Almost from their first breath they demand food, attention, support and love. A lot of new parents find this very overwhelming to deal with along with an already demanding and stressful life, and parents who have more than one child are often still trying to catch up with life after the first birth and easily stumble into the next challenge with clutter from the previous life-altering miracle.
Their first baby shoes, blanket, cute jersey mom sent, artwork, clay thingies (we’ve all had those special works of art on our shelves) start off the collection of possible clutter. The transitions happen so quickly, so it’s only natural to want to hold onto mementoes. But when you can’t find important documents, their other sock, get the car into the garage or have to deal with meltdowns because the cupboards are overflowing and they really need that little pony for their game now, then it’s possibly time to tackle the things creating unnecessary stress, arguments and preventing flow in everyone’s life.
Children are sponges that soak up all our habits, teaching them about clutter control from a very early age is a valuable life lesson that will help them maintain flow as they grow up. Flow gives us freedom to move, get things done, tackle life’s curve balls with ease and eliminates stress, which is a precursor to illness. In an already challenging, fast-paced world we need balance and flow at home to start off strongly every morning and flow into life with fewer obstacles.
One needs to implement systems that are easy to maintain for both parent and child. To start with you need to blitz the current situation. Sort through everything with your child so they can learn about the process of sorting and letting go of things that have defined their previous stage of life, as transitions can be overwhelming moving from toddler, tween and teen to leaving home. Learning to let go naturally as we flow seamlessly into our next life phase will make the ride less bumpy.
Teaching them to give is another valuable life lesson about sharing and makes you feel good. Give to charity, sell stuff if you need extra money (we all do in this day and age where we now pay R3 for 1 onion!) And recycle please, nothing into the bin. Recycling will also teach your child about the cycles of life as in nature, which works with cycles and nothing is ever wasted.
If you want to keep mementos then I suggest putting them into labelled storage containers that won’t attract insects, and store them somewhere out of the way. Even though I’m not a fan of plastic containers they are very practical. If you must use them, then try and get more eco-friendly ones, or thrift-storage solutions from your local charities and markets. Baskets, tins, pre loved plastic containers, laundry bins and so on. Otherwise, google thrifty storage ideas and make some with your children. Label what you can if no-one remembers where to put anything. Use pictures and colours to label drawers for children who can’t read yet. . If your clutter is too overwhelming to deal with then please give me a call, as a Balance and Flow guide with over 20 years’ experience as a Holistic Professional Organiser I’m only too happy to assist you in finding balance and flow in your home and work. For more information, contact Michelle on 082 689 0355.
