WHAT EFFECT DOES DECLUTTERING HAVE ON A CHILD?

As a child I often came home to find that my mother had been on a cleaning frenzy of de-cluttering.  Often it was my bedroom. Blood ran to my cheeks while I frantically check every area of my bedroom before racing to the outside garbage bin to find my preloved items had thrown away without consent. 

So, what effects does decluttering have on a child?

 My mother was the one who was the tidy one and seemed to ‘clean up’ when we were either at school or dad was at work. In fact when mother attacked dad’s shed he was happy it was cleaned up but it then took weeks for him to find those loose items.  In many cases some things were never seen again.

 There was one time when I was in high school I had made the discovery of rescuing a rabbit paper mache that I had made in primary school. Then several months later only to find it was too late. 

 Things like this may seem pointless to the parent involved but it’s the emotion that is being carried on by the child. Perhaps this has this been you? Were you the one coming home to a room that had been cleaned and finding that last years Easter eggs had been thrown away? Never to be seen again? 

There are going to be times in our lives that we are not able to control and this maybe one of them when are living under the family roof. Once you leave the nest you are responsible for your own clutter. 

The biggest lesson I learnt about decluttering as a child was when it was a hot New Years Eve and my father was getting ready to go out. Mother, my sister and I were dressed waiting. Then that moment came when father was looking for his favourite dance shoes in is tiny bedside cupboard. Father asked where they were and it was some moments later when we heard the words,

‘They’ve been thrown out!’

That was the end of the night and father stormed out.  Over the next few days it became known that mother had thrown out father’s shoes and we missed the evening dance. From that night on I learnt not to throw out another persons belongings.

            Although during my marriage I was the go-getter when it came to cleaning up. And that night still haunted me, as I wanted to de-clutter our home of things from his past. I made the point of checking over every item before it made it the dumping pile. I have not discarded a personal item since.

            Next time you are thinking of decluttering your child bedroom take into account, how would this affect them? 

Post written circa 24th May, 2017