Parenting Tip - Be a Minimalist Mom

Whoa, I was just reading a blog entry I happened to run across and had to stop and post the link  here--immediately!!

It's a post from a mom suffering from post partum depression, but that's not what the post is about.  It's about how her young daughter completely changed from being a whiny, moody, obstinate, change -clothes-constantly, non sleeping child into a happy, cooperative child again.

I know.  You're thinking, "what's the secret?  Tell me quick!"

She decluttered all the toys--picked up stuff off the floor and just put the stuff in a box in the other room.  She did it every day for two weeks--her daughter even started helping her. 

What was the reaction of her daughter?  She spun in a circle in her room and said, "It's a dream come true! Thank you for my new room mommy!"

Then this mother lists how her daughter has turned back into a normal, happy child again.

Are you sick of having a messy house?  Are there toys all over the floor that your child rarely plays with?  Are you feeling claustrophobic with junk piling everywhere?  Are you a hoarder?  Are you selfish?

Declutter.  Get rid of stuff.  Give it away.  It's WRONG to have so much of nothing.  It's WRONG to teach our children they need more, and more and more.

It's RIGHT to live a simple life.  It's RIGHT to enjoy using what you have.  It's RIGHT to not have so many decisions to make, clothes to wash, toys to pick up.  It's RIGHT to let children be creative and use throwable things to entertain themselves.

Stop the EXCESS!

Okay.  Sorry for the rant.  I think I've got it out of my system now.  But I'm going to take this thought to heart and go declutter my own house.

Thanks for reading,

Cathy

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Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.  ~William Morris

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.  ~Hans Hofmann, Introduction to the Bootstrap, 1993