Real Talk

Marie Kondo Prioritizes Her Kids Over Tidiness and We Support It!

by Kevyn Gohu
February 3, 2023

Hailed as a “professional tidier”, Marie Kondo shares how easing up on tidiness has helped her enjoy motherhood more.

“Keep something if it sparks joy.” — that has been the philosophy surrounding Marie Kondo’s method for cleaning, organizing, and tidying up. But keeping things clean isn’t easy to do, especially with children in the picture. While she hasn’t given up on keeping an organized home, she mentioned in an interview with the Washington Post that although her home is messier now, she’s completely fine with it!

“My home is messy, but the way I am spending my time is the right way for me at this time at this stage of my life,” admits the 38-year-old mom of 3 during an online tea ceremony. “I am busier than ever after having my third child, so I have grown to accept that I cannot tidy every day—and that is okay!”

Marie Kondo on parenting — Source: mariekondo

Marie Kondo’s Reinterpretation of Joy: Kurashi

As a mom, we know that our definition of joy changes as kids enter the picture. Although we will always appreciate a spotless living room, the sight eventually gets unnerving when there are no toys, bags, books, magazines, or tossed-around pillows when the kids grow. Marie Kondo shares that this change started when she had her second child and accepted the reality in 2021 when she had her third child.

“Just after my older daughter was born, I felt unable to forgive myself for not being able to manage my life as I had before. But, with time, I eased up on myself; then, after I gave birth to my second daughter, I let go of my need for perfection altogether.”

In her book, she shows how one’s Kurashi — a term the Japanese use to define “way of life” — changes when the definition of joy does, too. She writes in her latest book Kurashi at Home: How to Organize Your Space and Achieve Your Ideal Life, “Tidying up means dealing with all the ‘things’ in your life. So, what do you really want to put in order?”

Marie Kondo and her daughter — Source: mariekondo

Dreams can change, and it’s a salute that moms deserve to recreate them.

It gives a lot of perspective for us moms who feel that we’ve given up on our dreams, all in the name of motherhood. Sometimes, we have sprouts of resentment, guilt, and regret about what could have been had we not chosen to be a mom. But what many forget is that our dreams were never out of reach. It just gets re-tweaked, readjusted, and redefined when we realize there are so many unnecessary things to cut off to make our dreams more feasible. As the adage goes, “You win some, you lose some.” But losing isn’t always a bad thing. Some of them are just precursors to another win and blessing in store.