So, how does simplifying affect the kids? The simplicity books say that it is extremely hard to simplify and cut back when you have kids still living with you. (That I can quite understand!)
Ours are grown now - but what we do does affect them.
What do you think was the first question we heard from the kids when we talked about one of the small houses we are considering? "Where would we sleep?" Hello? You don't live here anymore, do you? And if you come visit overnight, well, we'll find somewhere for you to sleep.
Seriously, it made us think. This will be the first house Ed and I will live in where the kids do not have their own rooms. It's a final symbol, I guess, of their moving out on their own. And I think that realization has hurt them a little. I can empathize. My sister and I have our childhood bedroom (we always shared) still available at our mom's house. It can be a comforting feeling to walk in there.
Well, I guess our sense of loss at having the kids move out is now reciprocated in their feelings of loss over their "rooms." Why does simplification carry with it so much loss? I think I must have skipped over that chapter.