Marie Kondo Makes Surprising Admission About The KonMari Method

Parents of the world, rejoice! When you're standing in the middle of your living room, wondering why the space looks as though toy-mageddon just descended on what used to be a pristine, tidy space, know this: Marie Kondo has her bad days too. Her daughters, cute as they are, can be as messy as our own children are — or can be. As she writes in her KonMari blog, "When I first became a mother, I felt frustrated when I couldn't tidy my home exactly the way I wanted. Then, after having my second child, I didn't even have the energy to consider some of my former practices around the house!" 

But in her cheerful way, Marie Kondo chose to turn what we thought might kill her into something that made her stronger. She wrote a book, Kiki and Jax: The Life-Changing Magic of Friendship, about a squirrel that clutters and an owl that tidies (via Parents). The story fits in neatly with the tips Kondo offers up when it comes to tidying up with small children: Tidy with a smile and explain why the process of cleaning up is important; turn cleaning up into a game (remember Mary Poppins?); find a "home" for every book and toy; and recognize you don't have that much room for new toys.

Then there are the days when even none of those ideas work, but Kondo has a plan for that too. She says she waits for her girls to go to bed, then goes around getting her house back into the order that it was. But she adds that it doesn't take long, because remember — everything has a home. "Motherhood taught me to be more forgiving of myself," she writes. "The joy that comes from parenting exceeds any satisfaction that could have come from a perfectly neat home."