Abigail Weighs In On Her Bedroom Makeover - VIDEO
Meet Abigail, a 7-year old with things to say about her room. #organizing
My collaboration with Good Housekeeping is the gift that keeps on giving!
The night before my whirlwind session to declutter and organize my client Dawn's 7-year-old daughter Abigail’s room (as featured in Good Housekeeping 9 New Rules for Decluttering a Kid's Room - And Keeping It That Way) I hopped on a video call with mom and daughter to ask Abigail a few questions.
Abigail: "I need more storage for my clothes."
Abigail had a lot to say! Check out our video chat (transcript below!) to learnhow important it is to involve kids in organization ---- keep them engaged in the process and they'll not only give you great ideas, but they'll have a stake in keeping their organized rooms in order.
To learn more about Maeve's Method 'Kid Power!' check out these #kidpower posts!
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Maeve Interviews Abigail
Setting the stage...
Maeve: "So Abigail, what's one thing that you really like about your room?"
Abigail: "It has some space to play when I want to play."
Maeve: "It that because there is some open area on the rug?"
Abigail: "Yeah."
Maeve: "And do your friends come and play with you in that space as well?"
Abigail: "Yes."
Maeve: "And is there something else that you really like about your room right now?"
Abigail: "I like that it has a lot of space when I play with my dolls and toys. I can always have a spot to play."
Abigail talks about her books...
Maeve: "I see some books behind you, are those your books there on your right?"
Abigail: "Yes. I want a new bookshelf, because it's hard to get into with this shelf [Abigail pointed to a shelf that sat in front of the bookshelf, blocking the lower shelves]."
Maeve: "Do you really like your books?"
Abigail: "Yeah"
Maeve: "Would it be nice to access your books a little bit more easily?
Dawn: "Can we show Maeve, how you have to climb over your books to get to more books. It's really gotten, we have a lot of books. Right?"
What Abigail would like to change...
Maeve: "So we talked about your dolls, we talked about your books, and we talked about how it's nice for you to have some place to play, and with your friends. Are there any areas of your room that you maybe don't like so much, that you always thought it might be nice to have a little bit differently?"
Abigail: "The big shelf and the crib thing over there. Because when I want to play with [my crib] I have to take all of the dolls out of it. And then... "
Dawn: "Yeah, It's getting used for storage right now. Let's see if we can show Maeve your crib."
Abigail: "Once when I was younger I played with it but now I have to take all of them out."
Maeve: "Can you point to one of your favorites who is down there hiding?"
Dawn: "Oh, like maybe Ariel..."
Maeve: "So, whose that?"
Abigail: "When we were picking out gifts for Christmas, with my sister, we went to the toy store, and we stopped at the bottom and we saw them, and my dad saw, so he got it for me."
Maeve: "Oh, oh, so that's one of your favorites, but it gets buried way down at the bottom, huh?"
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Mom asks Abigail's about her Jewelry Box...
Dawn: "How about your jewelry... no? Wouldn't you like to be able to get to it better?
Maeve: "Do you want to show me where your jewelry is?
Dawn: "Do you want to show Maeve the thing you made?"
Abigail: [Abigail shows me her jewelry boxes, tucked on the windowsill] "Well, it used to be over right here, there's a box, that lived right here, that I made, a think, like a doorway, and a box that lived over here..."
Maeve: "So you made that jewelry box?"
Abigail: "No, I made this one."
Dawn: "She made a birthday jewelry cake."
"She would like her jewelry more easily displayed and accessed. Because Abigail actually wears a lot of jewelry every day and she enjoys picking jewelry out to match her outfits, but we are having a little trouble with jewelry storage, just like her mother!
Maeve: (laughing) "Ok, we can work on that!"
Dawn: "Like mother like daughter."
Back to that bookshelf...
Maeve: "OK, You also mentioned the big bookshelf. Can we look at that? Maybe you can tell me what is a little bit difficult about the bookshelf right now, for you?"
Abigail: "Because I can't, it's really tall, and when I usually want to see some of my pictures and stuff, I can't really see it, when I'm over there looking at my books, I have to see it from when I'm standing over here."
Maeve: "And the piece there, what about the long piece that is sometimes a little bit challenging?"
Abigail: "It's hard because a lot of my things that have my books, I have to climb over it to get to my dolls."
Maeve: "It sounds like you are doing a lot of climbing in your room!"
Dawn: (laughs)
Maeve: "Are you doing a lot of climbing?
Abigail: "I have to climb a little."
VIDEO
Abigail Answers Three Questions About Her Room
Maeve tells Abigail what is behind her questions...
Maeve: "Well, I'm glad to hear that, because you know, your mom and I need to make sure we know what we are doing tomorrow so that things can be better for you in the room, so no more climbing, it sounds like no more climbing..."
Abigail: "I want more storage for my stuff anyways, because, um, under my bed, it's hard to get to the bottom."
Maeve: "Oh, what's under your bed."
Dawn: "Oh... what's under the bed! There's a monster, a toy monster under the bed!"
Dawn: "Open the closet of dress-up clothes, wait Maeve, we have, ready, one, two, ok, open up, ahhhh, it just all spills out!"
Abigail: "I need more storage for my clothes."
Maeve's Final Questions...
Maeve: "Ms. Abigail, I only have two more questions for you. One of them is for you to show me two of your absolute favorite things in your room. Take your time..."
Abigail: "I want to show it to you, because... I have a sewing machine, and it lives right here, but my table is really messy and I can't put it back, and so I have a chair... and I want another little table so that I can play on this one and do stuff on that one."
Dawn: "How do you feel about the kitchen?"
Abigail: "I like it. I love it. I'd like to keep my kitchen but I want to organize the stuff in here."
Maeve: "Excellent. So you showed me the sewing machine, how about one more absolute favorite thing, it can be anything..."
Dawn: "Oh..."
Abigail: "For my birthday, my godmother got pointe shoes for my birthday."
Maeve: "Oh how nice, how beautiful. Is that something that might hang on the wall one day?"
Abigail & Dawn: "Yeah."
Abigail: "But I like to be able to take them down so I can...."
Dawn: "She likes to be able to take them out and look at them."
Maeve: "I see, excellent. Thank you for sharing with me.
Ok, are you ready for your last question? So I wanted for you to show me two things that are your absolute favorite in your room? And now I'd like you to show me two things that you really don't like at all..."
Dawn & Abigail: "Awww...." [then a long pause, as she thinks]
Maeve: "I know... [acknowledging that this can be tough] can you do that? Is there anything? Maybe you like everything?"
Abigail: "There is, but I don't like, but I don't like it because of where it is, so I want to move it around to make more space. I don't like that little bin that holds some of my stuff animals, it's too small and then I dig around, I want one that's easy to get to."
Maeve: "So it sounds like it's some of the furniture that you don't like, is that what I hear you saying?"
Abigail: "Um...mmmm"
Maeve: "Ok, that's really good to know. So other than the furniture, are there any items in your room, that maybe have ended up in there that don't really feel like weren't yours, or you kind of wish weren't in your room?"
Abigail: "Hmmmm.... [silence]"
Maeve: "[jokingly] Do you wish you had more things on your room?"
Dawn: "[laughing] I don't think any more will fit!
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