Strategize Organize LLC Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 12 Three times a year my Michigan Chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO-SE-MI) puts out a complimentary newsletter. This month I will share that newsletter with you. It is produced by the Newsletter Committee: Editor - Cynthia Gentit, Eat That Elephant! LLC Newsletter Advisors - Deb Stanley, Red Letter Day and Betty Huotari, Logical Placement, LLC Have you been watching? Family members should seek help for themselves too. The distress caused by a relative who hoards can be devastating and family members are often too ashamed or embarrassed to share their distress with others. Support groups, locations and online support can be found at the Children of Hoarders website The following contributions were made by a recovering person who hoards. The entire submission can be found on the Children of Hoarders website and are used with permission. "How Not to Raise a Hoarder" DON’T: - Stand over your kids when they are trying to do their homework, correcting spelling and other mistakes as they go.
- Pick all their clothes for them and be overly involved in their daily clothing decisions…as long as they are neat and clean and reasonably well put together.
- Talk frequently about how most people are not to be trusted and have ulterior motives, complain and comment about the neighbors and others.
- Make your child a confidante for problems that you should be discussing with another adult. Just because you don’t have any friends doesn’t mean that you should unload on the child!
- Emphasize the importance of things over people and their feeling…is it really “too good to use”?
- Over dramatize everyday events. It isn’t “criminal” or “terrible” that people choose to throw things away. Don’t hand-wring and create anxiety where there shouldn’t be any.
DO: - Have friends and invite them in; entertain a little bit at least.
- Promote decision-making skills in kids by allowing them to choose their daily outfit, complete their own homework, choose their own cereal for breakfast, and how they will spend some of their time.
- Push your kids past some of their fears, swimming for example, so that they know these skills.
- Try to put things into perspective. One of the things about hoarders is that their fears are totally disproportionate to reality. These fears are sometimes rooted in childhood with their own parents who were/are extremely conscientious – almost to the point of neurosis.
- Have your kids do a purge of their toy collection every fall. They should learn that it's smart to clean out the ones they've outgrown or broken, to make space for the new toys they'll get for the holidays. One thing in = one thing out...a concept I still find magical and amazing!
Seeking Self - Help for Hoarding Disorder? Read: “Buried in Treasures – Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding” David Tolin, Randy Frost, and Gail Steketee Oxford University Press 2007 ISBN: 0195300580 (Help for family members is also a feature of this self-help book.) “Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding: Why You Save & How You Can Stop” Fugen Neziroglu, Jerome, Bubrick, Jose A. Yaryura-Tobias ISBN13: 978157224349 10th Annual Michael Golds Memorial AD/HD Conference Friday, October 2, 2009 Orchard Ridge Campus Oakland Community College 27055 Orchard Lake Road Farmington Hills, MI 48334 Keynote Address by: Michael Ginsberg MD Featured Speakers: SARI SOLDEN & DENSLOW BROWN and 18 breakout sessions with international, national, & local experts on AD/HD CO-SPONSORED BY: OAKLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE & EASTERN OAKLAND COUNTY CHADD CHAPTER Additional Information: www.oaklandcc.edu/MGMC/ You must register to attend.
Hope you found this information helpful and/or interesting, Susan |
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