--- title: Marie Kondo Talks Keeping Kids Tidy description: Discover how the organization guru handles the messiness that comes with being a parent. canonical: https://time.com/5027690/marie-kondo-tidying-up-with-kids/ author: Lucy Feldman article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-16T16:35:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:31:53.369Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How Marie Kondo’s Expectations of Tidiness Have Changed After Kids og:description: The organizing guru doesn’t get too stressed about messes og:url: https://time.com/5027690/marie-kondo-tidying-up-with-kids/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0692716eef89c79d/6988e621096a9481e16a06fb/marie-kondo-with-kids.jpg?branch=production&width=935&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 935 og:image:height: 526 og:image:alt: marie-kondo-with-kids og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Marie Kondo’s Expectations of Tidiness Have Changed After Kids twitter:description: The organizing guru doesn’t get too stressed about messes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0692716eef89c79d/6988e621096a9481e16a06fb/marie-kondo-with-kids.jpg?branch=production&width=935&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Marie Kondo’s Expectations of Tidiness Have Changed After Kids > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=dce32927-0a27-4ab9-acf4-b91b5393c9e3&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME for Kids Interviews Marie Kondo [Watch (HLS stream): TIME for Kids Interviews Marie Kondo](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8Xs4XNy3.m3u8) (2:42)  _Published 2017-10-06. Two TIME for Kids reporters ask organization guru, Marie Kondo, how they can make their lives a little neater._  by [Lucy Feldman](https://time.com/author/lucy-feldman/)  ## Lucy Feldman Editorial Director Nov 16, 2017 4:35 PM UTC Two TIME for Kids reporters ask organization guru, Marie Kondo, how they can make their lives a little neater.  by [Lucy Feldman](https://time.com/author/lucy-feldman/)  ## Lucy Feldman Editorial Director Nov 16, 2017 4:35 PM UTC Marie Kondo, hailed the world over as one of the foremost experts on decluttering, is now a mom. [_The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607747308/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1607747308&linkId=ba0aadd522744be74a7d4d7fed17ee96)author has two daughters, Satsuki, 2, and Miko, 1 — neither of whom was around when she wrote the book on keeping your home clean. With motherhood comes some new considerations. [Kondo](https://konmari.com/education/online-course/) spoke with TIME about how becoming a parent has changed her perspective on her [KonMari method](https://konmari.com/), how she’s raising her daughters to be tidy — and how she’ll cope if they refuse to cooperate. **Have you noticed a difference in how boys and girls tidy?** I haven’t noticed too much of a difference. There are girls who might decide to organize or they might be playing and running around — and I’ve found the same thing for boys, as well. The real difference is the parents — whether the kids have been watching their parents be organized and tidy, that makes a big difference. **How have you demonstrated tidying to your daughters?** I try to show my older daughter the things I do daily. I try to do some of the washing and folding in front of her, deliberately. Sometimes my daughter starts folding hats or tries to fold placemats on the dining table. **What if they grow up and say they don’t want to tidy, they’d rather be messy?** I do think about the day that might actually happen. But one thing that’s important for me is to figure out what people’s personal spaces are. I might say from here to here is your personal space, and if you decide to organize it, that would be great. But if she says she really doesn’t want to organize, I won’t say anything about that. What’s really important is that you yourself can tidy up. If you can keep your personal space tidy, it gives you a calm mindset. Then even if your family is not as tidy, it’s OK. **What’s the hardest thing for kids to learn when it comes to being neat?** Rather than what’s difficult, I think about what’s important for them to know, and that’s what a space looks like when it’s actually tidy. I teach how to fold your clothes. Just by knowing how to fold clothes, it makes it easier to keep things organized. **What has surprised you most about being a parent?** After giving birth, I realized I’d been living my life thinking about what sparks joy for me. Now I’m thinking about what sparks joy for my child, for my family. Realizing how happy I can be when I’m spending time with my family has been one of the wonderful surprises. **When you’re not tidying, what’s your favorite way to spend time with your kids?** I often sing children’s songs with them. One example is “Ton-Ton-Ton-Ton Higaji-San.” The direct translation would be something like “Clomp-Clomp-Clomp-Clomp Bearded Old Man.” I love to read out loud to my children, something my own mother did for me. My favorite is a Japanese book called Moko-Moko that my daughter really likes. It plays around with onomatopoeia. _This interview, spoken in Japanese and translated into English by an interpreter, has been edited and condensed for clarity._ ## Transcript So can you show me how to fold these and put them in the box? Okay. [ MUSIC ] My mom always tells me to clean my room And it drives me crazy. How can you make tidying up fun? The ideal thing to do is to actually look at what kind of life you want to lead, look at the room, and then decide how you can make that happen for yourself. So when you look at everything that you have, then you actually look at the items, and then decide for yourself, whether that actually makes you happy, whether it sparks joy. Are American kids messier than Japanese kids? If so, why? So I think kids can be messy in their own way no matter where you go, whether it's in Japan or America. But I think one thing that I do notice is that American kids seem to have a lot of small toys. So something to think about is that you might have a lot of Toys and think about organizing those things. Do you think you could help me organize my backpack? Well the first thing we have to do then is to take out everything in your backpack. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] It's very important to take every single thing that's in your backpack out, and if you're cleaning your room too, you would do the same thing. [ FOREIGN ] Now that we have everything laid out here, we are going to start looking at every single item and decide whether you really need to bring it with you today. [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] Okay. So now that you can see, you can see this pile which actually shows you all the things that you do need and that sparks joy for you, and then there's the other things that maybe you don't need today. Maybe it doesn't spark joy for you immediately and now that you can actually see everything, you can decide for yourself and think about what is actually important. For you. [ FOREIGN ] One important thing, as we start putting things back, is to put them stacked in a way that you can see what exactly is inside your bag. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ FOREIGN ] This is how we clean the inside of your backpack. 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