Hacker News Reader

Comment by Shank | Hacker News Reader

> Kondo gave birth to her third child in 2021

I don't have children, but all parents I've talked to have indicated that you can compare having a child to having a hurricane in your house, in terms of stability, organization, chaos, etc. A third child in 2021? Yeah, I'm not surprised.

> “Now I realize what is important to me is enjoying spending time with my children at home.” To her, focusing on family over folding is time spent “the right way for me at this time, at this stage of my life.”

Would anyone fault any parent for wanting to spend more time with their children, especially really young ones, after they're born? This piece comes off as really brash to me. She isn't giving up -- she's living life.

View on HN

I have three kids and enjoyed the article, and forwarded to the few other parents I know (except one, who still keeps her house crazy clean because she has lots of professional help) with three kids.

The spirit was “Even Marie Kondo can’t keep a clean house with three kids!”

I have three kids and a maid that comes every week and the house is still a disaster except for 6-7 hours after the maid comes.

It's going to get worse, a lot worse for a long time, before it gets better.

> It's going to get worse, a lot worse for a long time, before it gets better.

We've lived on our block for nearly 35 years; with all the young families who have moved in, there are now some 20 (!) kids age 12 and under on the block — all but a couple of them boys. Our thirty-something son and his "brothers" (now-adult men who grew up together and are still close), remembering their teen-aged years on the block, have chuckled about that, saying, "Wait till they all get to high school and get driver's licenses ...."

For so long? What’s your secret? Does the maid come at night when they’re asleep?

The response to the change on her part is framed by the cultural craze around her earlier advice, and the demographic within which it was influential.

Its not really about her, per se.

Yep, that's a good description. And unless you're paying someone to come clean and straighten up (cleaning, organizing, and ongoing maintenance are all different concerns!), there is a large amount of time that you need to trade off in order to do that yourself. Your kids will only be kids for so long, so fuck the constant organizing routine and spend your time with them. Be reactive and just clean up when you need to, and shove things into a closet when people come over or whatever. My kid is almost 11 now, and the worst realization is that I'm way past the half way mark in the time that I have with them at home as my kid. I'll have plenty of time to put my shit away when I'm missing them while they're away at college and then building their own life.

My spouse is a professional organizer. It's a cool field, with a mix of helping people maintain a high end appearance, and also helping others who are literally trying to dig their lives out from the living room. Our home doesn't look like a completed job, though. There will (hopefully) be time for that later.

I have two children and there was the syrup from a mandarin orange snack cup flying through the air about an hour ago.

Mercifully, it’s nap time.

Hurricane is such a good term.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com