Getting read of stuff part 2

[pegkerr]

naomikritzer wrote a long and thoughtful response to my earlier post about going through clothes and discarding stuff with Fiona. Thanks, Naomi.

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I thought at the time but didn't have time to say: as a non-parent, it looks to me like one of the hardest things about parenting is seeing things you have overcome yourself or with your spouse (or are struggling to overcome) popping up in your children. I know a mom who wailed at her son, "You were supposed to get all your dad's good stuff, and you got all my bad stuff! I didn't mean to!" Tough row to hoe, whether it's an OCD thing or just a kid who is attaching to things she can't reasonably keep. Good luck and good wishes.

(For my mom, it did get easier: I insisted on keeping one tatty green sweater that was the first "grown-up clothes" I ever got, but she pointed out how my poorer cousins could get so much use out of the other stuff, and it got to be a game, trying to guess which of my outgrown clothes would delight my cousin most, which she'd insist on wearing the very day we brought the bag of stuff over. Not applicable to your situation, sounds like, except to say that sometimes the tears and struggles do pay off.)