Video Transcript
Hi, everyone. Today, I'm going to talk about how to work with your children to help them declutter their toys. I worked with a lot of kids, throughout the years of organizing and sometimes I think that perhaps they listened to me because I wasn't their parent, but they were always so wonderful. And it always stuck out, this one instance of when I was talking to them. It was I I gave the same spiel every time to these kids, and it was just fascinating to see how they responded to it.
I wanna share that with you today in hopes that it helps you work with your kids and help them as they're kinda learning the steps to declutter and organize their toys. It was fascinating to me, first of all, that some kids that I work with, they just seem to to have an organizing brain. Like, they they got it. And then there was kids I worked with that I call I used would call them little hoarders because they wanted to save everything and keep everything. And 1, this goes to show, this is kind of a side note here.
It goes to show that our brains do work differently and I think we have to respect that and honor that and not judge ourselves if you're having a hard time with this. When I look at clutter, I, for some reason, for the way I was created, can see the whole transformation. It's very hard for me to explain, but if I see the whole process, the whole journey, the end result, it all makes sense to me. Not everyone can do that. And if you talk to other organizers or even people that don't organize but just like organizing, they'll say the same thing.
Like, it's it's similar to how I imagine a developer would look at a plot of land and see all the buildings that are gonna be there and the construction process and all that. We have to honor that our brains work differently. If it is any anything to do with science and math, I just not my thing. But you can learn it and that's the most important thing. We can learn anything in this world.
And that's what all these tips and tricks are for. But it was just interesting. The reason why I say that, it was interesting to see in these children that some of them at such a young age really did understand how to organize at, like, 6 7 years old. And then there was ones that you could tell were very messy or just didn't wanna give anything up. If you are working with your children and going through this process, this is how I explained it to them and I hope you can use it.
I'm just gonna use the example of toys because kids love toys. As we were going through it, I would say I never forced anything by any means but I would say, if there are toys that you don't like as much or that you don't use anymore, that you haven't used in years, I said, the reason why we're doing this is to not only declutter the house and create a better environment in your house, but I said there's other little boys and girls out there that don't have as many toys. If I was working with their mom and dad for example, I would say, well, your mom and dad and I thought would be a good idea to maybe help some other kids out. And I never if listen, if they liked all their toys, I respected that. They could keep them all.
I didn't force this on them. But when I explained it like that and say, listen, this is incredible. This was so cool that you have all these toys and this is amazing and you're so lucky. And then I would just kind of explain after that, that there's other little boys and girls out there that actually don't have any toys. And sometimes it was just it was so precious and cute and sometimes they looked at me and they were just amazed.
They couldn't fathom how another child couldn't have a toy and but like in in a sweet innocent innocent way. They were shocked, they were they were surprised by it. And then once they processed that, it really helped them declutter and let go. And, again, I didn't force this, but if they had toys that they weren't using as much, if they had a toy that they hadn't used in years, it made them it made it easier for them and they would say, they're like, Christina, I haven't used this this truck since probably last year. Why don't we give that away?
And it just it was a beautiful beautiful experience to see too because it just warmed your heart to see how much love, are in children's hearts and it was just I'll I'll never forget that because every person that I worked with, and it was fascinating to fascinating to see because it was even the children that wanted to keep everything. Even they got it right away. And there was this little shift in their eyes and I could see it every time and it shifted and it just looked their eyes looked differently and they got it. I just always remember thinking, I'm like, wow, they got it. They got it that they are lucky, and I'm not telling them that they have to get rid of their toys, and I'm gonna teach them how to organize it and put it away every day, of course.
But when they understood that another little boy and girl just like them didn't have it. They just wanted to help even if it was 1. Even if it what? It was 1. Even if it was the child that wanted to keep everything every time.
And so hopefully that helps to just explain it in a different way. Also, second part. Sometimes it's hard for kids to conceptualize because you say these little boys and girls and they're like, oh, where are they? Who are they? Sometimes, as many times as I possibly could, I would donate to a local school, a local library, any teachers I know.
That's also an option too that you can say, oh, we're gonna donate to your school, or we're going to donate to the library so that people in our area, kids in our area that need it. Sometimes that helps too because it's it seems very foreign to them to they can't really process who these people are. So children were always a joy to work with. I loved it. I I I always say they were my favorite clients.
They were they were wonderful, and I hope that if you're organizing with your children that this this part of the process goes smoothly and if you explain it in this way that that they understand it and you see that little that little shift in their eyes. It was like always this little twinkle in their eyes and, it was a beautiful thing to see. I hope that helps. Happy organizing everybody. Follow Christina's Corner for more tips and tricks of how to get organized.
