I've heard it said that every time you have a baby your laundry doubles. Well, along that same line, here's a quote from an article I just read: "Each new child in a household leads to a 30 percent increase in a
family’s inventory of possessions during the preschool years alone" ("Spoiled Rotten" by Elizabeth Kolbert for The New Yorker).
I'd just like to say that my household is a pure testament to these statistics! Where--and when and how--in the world did we acquire so much STUFF?! As I sat on the couch feeding Dax yesterday, I looked around the room and asked myself what I would grab if my house was on fire, and what I would truly miss if it was all gone, and the only things I could come up with (of course I would save the children first) were photographs and a wood-burned picture Leif made me for a gift when we were first married. (And if I had an extra minute or two, I'd grab my running watch and a snack.)
That's it? Really? It made me feel like I am wasting my life away, wandering around moving stuff from one place to another. I wake up, move stuff--bedding, toys, clothes, food, dishes, electronics, etc., etc., etc.--from one place to another, and then I move it back again when the time comes. And then I go to bed and do it all again the next day. Move, rinse, repeat . . . for the rest of my life. It makes my arms tired just thinking about it.
This wasn't even the point of the article! The article was about our weak-sauce American kids who can't tie their own shoes, whose parents coddle them all the way to "adultescence." Attachment parenting at its finest--a condition I hope to avoid like the plague. This has potential to be a lengthy post in itself, so suffice it to say, I vowed to commit contemporary parenting crimes like saying "no" often and even ignoring my kids (gasp!) from time to time (like the French, whose better-behaved children seem to embrace autonomy at an earlier age than their Westerly peers, according to the article).
I could go on, but it's late. And I have a lot of stuff to move tomorrow.
3 comments:
We have. Friend who told us about some people who came up with the concept of not owning more than 100 items. Try thinking of the 100 things you would keep. Kinda crazy. Also, I totally agree with the teach-your-kid-to-be-a-little-more-independent philosophy. I kinda feel like I have been on this same wavelength lately, so thanks for putting into words what I have been thinking!
you should read the book I just read--7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. It's about a lady that lives in Austin (and she talks about Austin a lot, which is another reason you would probably like it.) It's about all the excess crap we have in America and what we can do about it. pretty interesting. oh, and you should buy a plane ticket.
LOVE YOU!! Seriously!! You should wright your own article. I would buy it. You are a genius.
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