Packing up a child’s bedroom comes with unexpected challenges - emotional attachments, massive clutter, forgotten treasures, and more.
As a parent staring down the task of packing up your child's bedroom, you likely expect challenges like sorting through years of accumulated stuff and helping them decide what to keep versus donate. However, most people don't anticipate the full extent of stressful issues this transition can bring up for the whole family.
The best moving company in Calgary notes that beyond just logistics, this process opens up an emotional floodgate for parents and kids alike. When "clearing out" a child's personal space that likely has years of memories attached, unexpected challenges arise.
Massive Unexpected Clutter is Revealed
When actually digging into packing, you peel back layers of your child's space to reveal shocking amounts of clutter stuffed in the far corners of closets, under furniture, inside bins you haven't peeked into for years, etc.
Many parents gasp as epic stashes of art projects, school papers, toys, memorabilia, half-finished craft supplies, and more explode out of packed shelves and drawers in staggering piles.
Strategies to Handle Massive Unexpected Clutter
· Triage Mode - Don't panic! Go slow and triage items into categories: keep, toss, donate.
· Enlist Your Child - Have them help with sorting items to lighten your load. Offer to let them keep a reasonable number of sentimental projects or artworks.
· Take Photos - Snap pics of your child's artwork and special memorabilia to keep digitally before recycling items.
· Trash First - Focus on the easy "toss" pile first so you clear space. Recycle loads of paper.
· Storage Bins - Use bins to group categories of items neatly so you can make decisions and pack by type efficiently. Label bins clearly.
· Pack as You Go Pack up "keeper" bins right away as you triage so clutter doesn't re-accumulate.
Forgotten Treasures Unearth Emotional Attachments
Even the most practical parents discover they are more emotionally tied to items in their child's room than expected when packing up. You'll unearth long-forgotten sentimental kid treasures like:
· Baby toys
· Early finger painting masterpieces
· Height charts marked on walls
· Outgrown clothes dating back to lost "tiny years"
· Awards from first sports games
· Photos and trophies from talents pursued briefly but intensely that year
The sudden rediscovery of these forgotten kid "gems" packed with nostalgia takes many parents by surprise, swirling up stronger emotions than anticipated about our little ones growing up.
Strategies For Handling A Flood of Unexpected Emotions
· Take Inventory Mindfully - When rediscovering sentimental items, pause to memorialize the moment before deciding what to do with it. Share stories and belly laughs over funky artwork and crazy clothing phases.
· Honor THEN Let Go - Enjoy the nostalgia wave, then focus pragmatically on what you realistically have room to store.
· Save Some Gems - Select a few priceless items to keep, taking pictures of the rest before recycling them.
· Save Outgrown Clothes - Set aside a couple of outfits from each year to bundle in an airtight bag or bin for pure giggles later with your grown-up child.
· Start a Moving Tradition - Have your kids do a silly "fashion show" wearing a sampling of their outgrown clothes for comedy before packing them away. Snapping some photos to laugh over for years.
Kids Can Push Back Harder Than Expected
No matter what age, this transition represents leaving a cocoon of childhood mementos behind, which can spark resistance in kids. Be prepared for potential friction over:
Relinquishing Beloved Possessions
Navigating what items to keep versus donate with your child can get thorny quickly. Kids often push passionately to cram favored toys, trinkets, chapter books, craft supplies, collections, and more into boxes bound for your new place.
Be prepared for them to battle fiercely over beloved items they haven't touched in years but suddenly can’t part with.
Strategies to Handle Resistance Over Belongings
· Set Limits Kindly But Firmly - Explain logistical limits clearly but empathetically. Don’t get drawn into power struggles.
· Involve Them in Decision Making - Give choices about what a reasonable number of sentimental belongings to keep. Guide them collaboratively.
· Compromise Creatively - Offer to take pictures of collections so your child can “keep” the memories without boxing up the physical items.
Emotional Attachments to Furniture
The bed, desk, shelves, dresser, and other fixtures in your child’s room can also spark surprisingly intense emotion when the reality sets in that these stalwart fixtures of their space are getting removed.
Grappling with finally getting “too big” for faded kid decor as they adopt a more mature teenage style can be a sentimental turning point that makes kids wistful. Even those begging for room makeovers can get hit hard at times of change.
Strategies For Handling Furniture LETTING GO Resistance
· Talk Through What This Transition Represents - empathetically discuss the emotions and nostalgia their room evokes before dismantling it.
· Plan an Upgrade Shopping Spree Together - Collaborate on selecting more mature furniture your child loves for their new space so they feel positively empowered by this milestone.
· Get Creative With Keeping Elements - Consider clever ways to upcycle a sentimental door plaque to frame artwork featuring your child’s old door sign.