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Our Children | Summer 2020
Conquering clutter Experts weigh in on the best ways to organize kid chaos By Heather Laura Clarke
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any Nova Scotians went declutter-crazy after reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo: holding items to see if they “sparked joy” and discarding anything that didn’t into donation bins. (Thrift shoppers still speak fondly of the KonMari method era when the shelves of secondhand stores overflowed with wonderful cast-offs.) But although Kondo tried to follow up with some tips for sorting children’s items (board games, toys, books, and general clutter) she never quite hit the mark. Parents struggled to apply her calm, less-ismore wisdom to their children’s bedrooms and playrooms. A single teddy bear next to a lone toy car on an immaculate white shelf? While that might be practical in a tiny urban apartment, it’s not exactly helpful when you’re staring down at a three-storey minefield of Barbie shoes, Pokémon cards, Peppa Pig figurines, gnawed plastic blocks, and Happy Meal toys.
Jane Veldhoven, a Certified Professional Organizer and owner of Get Organized by Design in Halifax, says children’s clutter makes many parents regularly feel overwhelmed. “The needs of children change rapidly over time, which means there can be a lot of accumulation,” she explains. “The type of toys that children play with changes over time, which means they must be edited on a regular basis.” But it’s the “editing” process that can daunt, with cabinets, drawers and shelving units overflowing with toys, books and games. Parents are exhausted at the thought of going through the mess, so it can feel easier to just buy another bin and ignore it for a while longer. There are emotional attachments, too. Even if they know their kids have outgrown their train table or set of Calico Critters, Veldhoven says sometimes parents hesitate to get rid of the
