Can I say something slightly heretical? Less stuff isn’t always the answer. If you’re living in a house that feels full to bursting with children’s things, your partner’s things and your own, this Parent Pause is an invitation to question the pressure to declutter our way to calm. I talk about how parenting isn’t a lifestyle aesthetic, and how the images we’re sold of serene, neutral family homes can quietly make us feel like we’re failing. I share a moment when I cleared out something that looked like rubbish to me but was precious to my child, and how that was devastating for my child. This is a reflection on agency, respect and being consulted, and on why what often matters more than having less stuff is helping our children build a conscious relationship with their things. If your house feels overfull right now, this pause is about asking a different question, not how to get rid of more, but how to live together with what’s already here.

Thank you for pausing with me. Take care.

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