When we were in Florida visiting my grandparents, my grandma asked me to get her a sweater. I went to her closet and looked around. It was a mess. It took a few minutes for me to find a sweater.
I brought it back out to her and asked, “Grandma, how do you find anything in your closet?”
She told me someone comes every night to help her get undressed and they just put things back in the closet wherever. Apparently they’re just shoving things back in her closet wherever so there’s no rhyme or reason to any of it.
I asked if it was ok for me to organize it for her, and she said yes.
My three girls were with me, along with my sister and my niece.
My niece and one of my daughters said they wanted to help. So we went and started taking everything out of the closet. One by one my other two daughters came in to help us too.
We took everything out of the closet and sorted it into categories on the bed, deciding what was long and short sleeved, fancy or less-fancy, re-hanging things that were doubled up.
My 6 year old found a jacket she liked and I was like, “You should try it on.” So she did. And then all of the girls took a turn trying on the jacket and showing it to my grandma. Even I had a turn. I put it on and went out and modeled it for her.
We put everything back in the closet in a way that made sense and then went out and told grandma how we had organized it.
She was so grateful for it and I felt good that we had done something useful for her. But the other thing that really sticks out to me about this is how willing all the girls were to help.
I didn’t ask any of them to help, they all volunteered.
They were excited about doing it. And, they even had some fun. And now we all have the memory of that jacket and how we each had a turn putting it on. (Well, except my sister who was doing other things for them, but she’ll remember seeing all of us in it.)
I already involve my kids with cleaning and decluttering. But I don’t usually involve them in things that aren’t theirs. This has shown me that they can be willing to help (and maybe it’s even more fun) when it’s not their stuff.
If you’re sick of being in charge of all the things and want getting the kids involved to be super simple, I can help. Just one conversation can change everything. And if you want even more help, we can talk about how I can support you in implementing the changes you want. Click here to schedule a call.
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