With our 50th anniversary coming up soon, we are in the mood for spring cleaning a little earlier this year. Traditionally, we have the urge to rejuvenate as this new season of expanding light emerges, and we want children at every age at school to feel capable of keeping the environment beautiful. Cleaning helps organize the mind and equip children to be more sensitive to their physical environment.
When we have a project like cleaning the whole classroom, the hallway, or the yard, we are amazed by the energy children pour into the tasks. Even the youngest preschooler can become a cleaning wizard when offered a scrub brush and a bucket of water. When we demonstrate how to use a toothbrush on baseboards, they approach the job with laser focus. We want children to connect to the sensory-motor process of cleaning with the feeling that they can have control over making their environment peaceful. They will take the idea of seasonal refreshment with them into adulthood.
Another aspect of spring re-energizing is showing children how to make more space in their rooms by passing things on to others that they no longer need. In Marie Kondo’s bestselling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, which came out in America in 2014, the author advises readers to sort through belongings and keep only objects that bring them joy. People responded to her message. The book has sold millions of copies and been published in 30 countries.
Having children practice decluttering helps them learn to create peaceful environments at a young age. Choosing items they associate with happiness ignites a new awareness in children raised in our materialistic culture. We don't have to own more than we need, and having lots of possessions doesn't make us more special. Decluttering—sorting for the objects we love and want to care for—provides children with the opportunity to experience the joy of giving items to others and imagining the pleasure they will take in using them.
We hope you will join us in celebrating the weekend of February 21–23. Look for more announcements coming up.
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