Every parent has heard the familiar message on an airplane: Put your own oxygen mask on first before helping others. It’s simple advice, but when you’re raising kids, it can feel almost impossible to follow.
Parents, especially moms, often run on empty. We juggle school schedules, sports, meals, work, activities, homework, birthday parties, permission slips, and the endless logistics of family life. By the time Spring rolls around, many of us are overwhelmed and buried under a mental to-do list that never seems to end.
This is why I’ve been thinkingabout Spring Cleaning a little differently this year. Not the closets. Not the garage. Not even the toy bins.
I’m talking about a different kind of Spring Cleaning – one that starts with us. Before reorganizing the playroom or labeling another storage bin, I’m asking myself a simple question, what would happen if I cleared some space in my own life first?
Because the truth is, kids don’t just live in our homes. They live inside the systems we create. When our days feel chaotic, rushed, and cluttered, our kids feel it too.
So, my first step this Spring will be taking a hard look at the family calendar. I want to ask a question that can feel surprisingly uncomfortable, do we actually need to be doing all of this? Some activities will stay, but others may quietly disappear. Even removing one extra commitment each week might create something we don’t often have enough of – breathing room.
My guess is that kids benefit from that space just as much as we do. When every afternoon isn’t packed with somewhere to be, they have time to decompress, play, read, or even be bored for a while – something creativity tends to grow out of.
Another place I’m hoping to do some Spring Cleaning is the mental load that so many parents carry. We all have that running checklist in our heads: Who needs new sneakers? Is the field trip form signed? What day is the science project due?
Instead of trying to hold everything in my head, I’m experimenting with putting more of it somewhere visible – a simple weekly board in the kitchen where everyone can see what’s coming up. My hope is that when information is out in the open, kids can begin to take a little more ownership. A reminder about library books becomes their job. A practice schedule becomes something they can check themselves. Even younger kids can start to see how the family rhythm works when it isn’t hidden inside a parent’s brain.
Finally, I’m planning to lean more into something that helps kids grow in confidence – real responsibility. Not just clean your room, but meaningful ways to contribute to family life. My three-year-old can help put toys back
in a basket, carry napkins to the table, or match socks from the laundry pile; and my seven-year-old can help set the table, pack his backpack for school, or help wipe down the table after dinner. These simple tasks may seem small to
us, but to a child they can feel important.
These small responsibilities send an important message: they are not just passengers in the family – they are contributors. And contributors tend to grow into capable, confident people.
In truth, while Spring will always bring the urge to organize closets and scrub baseboards, the reality is that the most important reset is really not inside our cabinets. Rather, it’s the clearing of space in our routines, our schedules, and even our minds.
So, here’s a small challenge for this month – pick just one non-cabinet space to organize. Maybe it’s removing one activity from the calendar, writing the weekly schedule where everyone can see it, or giving a child a new responsibility at home. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be a start.
When we make a little more room to breathe, our families will grow into that space together.
God Bless.