Minimalism with several kids: you're either Amish or delusional

POV, an expat making a fresh start in a new country: "Now is the time for me to be minimalist! No longer will I allow clutter to suffocate me; nor will I contribute to the world's waste. I'm Marie Kondo the second". (She's actually also given up on tidying after having her second kid).

Plot twist: that expat has children. Not the classic two, but four of them, all under the age of 10. 

So what? You might think. Kids don't need much, materially; they just need their parents' love, guidance and time.

I would respond that you clearly haven't had four, or even two kids. On top of the basics, you end up collecting shit. So much shit. There were too many examples of shit to list without boring you, so this is the collective term. Kind friends also gift you more (good) shit that their kids have outgrown. (They also hope for minimalism). So then you need extra cupboards, shelves and boxes, and space. 

Clutter makes me feel claustrophobic, but you can't avoid it with kids. It grows from nothing! They create their own toys out of bits of cardboard, pen lids and hair ties. So then, I do THE PURGE. Every few months my claustrophobia comes to a boil and I commence a frenzied purge of their room. Everything in a pile in the middle of the floor to be sorted or chucked. 80% gets chucked. 

This of course is all true for anyone with kids, expat or not. What annoys me about it being true in a new country is the gaping space between my expectations and the reality; that we have all this stuff already, but in the wrong hemisphere. And we have to buy it all again.

Comments

  1. Amy12 January 2025 at 20:17

    No such thing as minimalism with kids. It has been unhinged maximalism the moment I gave birth.

    ReplyDelete

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