Posted on: Sunday, March 6, 2005

Kids left home? Time to dump stuff

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Do you have a basement full of your adult children's belongings?

Judi Culbertson and Marj Decker, authors of "Scaling Down: Living Large in a Smaller Space" (Rodale, $15.95), offer tips:

• Give children a deadline to sort and take their belongings. If they live far away, consider boxing up the most important items and shipping them.

• Cull through old school papers and artwork and put the best of them in albums.

• Be prepared to find that you may be more attached to your children's things than they are. If that's the case, get tough with yourself.

• As you go through your children's artwork, pick a nice piece and have it framed. Give it to your child — or his or her spouse — for Christmas or another special occasion.

Parents say other people's kids wild

Findings from a recent poll by Parenting magazine and AmericaOnline:

• Seventy-five percent of parents say they think other people's kids aren't disciplined enough.

• Sixty percent say they've been too harsh on occasion, but even more (78 percent) think they've been too easy.

• About half use their child's full name when they reprimand.

• Also popular (36 percent): "I'm going to count to 10!"

• The bad behavior parents have to deal with most: kids resisting when told to do something. It got more votes than hitting, tantrums, talking back and sibling fights combined.