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Has anyone ever experienced simplifying backlash?

post #1 of 8
7/13/10 at 10:08pm
Thread Starter 
This post could have just as easily been posted as "Things NOT to talk about on Facebook".

So after talking on here with some of you guys about my husband feeling the need to deep clean on all his days off I realized we needed to do a MAJOR purging. We have taken it even one step further and are simplifying as much as possible in advance of the twins arrival. This has been working out GREAT for us. Dh no longer feels the need to clean clean clean when he is home because there is little to no mess anymore. We have not found ourselves missing a single thing that we have gotten rid of and now that the kids can actually manage there toys they get played with more often and takes only moments to clean back up afterwards.

Problem is that during all of this I made a few comments on Facebook about what we were doing because I was excited about our progress and wanted to share. Also I made a few more post because I was trying to find homes for some of our things, like the microwave that we never used. WOW was I in for a surprise. Not only did most people kind of panic because they thought maybe we were moving again but people just basically think I have lost my mind.

What is worse I have one extended family member that is now going around telling people not to buy my kids any presents because I dont want them to have anything!

Has this happened to anyone else? How did you do damage control? Or did you even let it bother you and just let it slide and go out of mind?
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post #2 of 8
7/13/10 at 11:52pm
i don't do damage control.

yes, we had backlash, but it's ok. some people are more comfortable with stuff. living without does make my life easier, i have to say.
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post #3 of 8
7/14/10 at 12:38am
I had backlash when we received 12 (yes, 12!!) bags of hand me downs when DS1 was born and I weeded through them, picked out what we needed and would use, and handed them on to the next person.

Apparently it's ungrateful to not use every single item you are given, needed or not.

And before anyone jumps on me, these were given with the suggestion that when we were done with them to hand them off to someone else-the issue wasn't that I didn't give them back to the original donator, it was that we never actually used the items before passing them on.
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post #4 of 8
7/14/10 at 9:29am
I would just leave it... some people might actually give it some thought after their knee-jerk reaction

The person who said not to buy your kids gifts was totally out of line~ however, hopefully it will work to your advantage and your kids will be given "experience" gifts like tickets to the movies, museums, classes etc etc or donations to their bank account or college fund etc

That had to be hard to be feeling great about your accomplishments and be mowed down like that~ just look around your nice clean simplified home and how well your kids are playing with their few select toys to perk yourself up
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post #5 of 8
7/14/10 at 2:59pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you all for your responses, sometimes it just feels good to know you are not alone especially when the people around you in real life are acting like you just landed from Mars or something.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sunshineafterrain View Post
The person who said not to buy your kids gifts was totally out of line~ however, hopefully it will work to your advantage and your kids will be given "experience" gifts like tickets to the movies, museums, classes etc etc or donations to their bank account or college fund etc
I had not thought of this, wow I hope you are right! The kids would LOVE presents like that. Well... except maybe donations to a college fund, but mommy and daddy would love that, so we are still good.

Thank you for the encouragement. I am used to doing things that most if not all of my family and real life friends think I am crazy for (breastfeeding, co-sleeping, so on so forth) and I never really let it get me down because I know what is best for US and am more than willing to take the occasional "heat" so that my children get what I believe to be the best for them. I suppose this one just really took me by surprise and I was really off guard because I never once thought anyone would be upset over it. And then when the relative started the bad talk that I felt would directly effect my kids life I just felt momentarily really down about it all.

But today is a new shiny day and for now all is right and good and full of hope. A little encouragement does indeed go a long way.
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post #6 of 8
7/14/10 at 3:11pm
Heh, I would be thrilled if everyone stopped buying DD presents
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post #7 of 8
7/16/10 at 12:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by laohaire View Post
Heh, I would be thrilled if everyone stopped buying DD presents
Me too. With three kids now, and very generous grandparents and great grandparents, our tiny apartment is overrun. Some people are just unreasonable and that is their problem, not yours.
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post #8 of 8
7/19/10 at 1:49pm
Yeah, not damage control here either. I did finally have some family member empathize with me though, which was nice.

You can't really control what other people think or make them understand you. Keep doing what you are doing and maybe one day they will understand.

My aunt saw first hand why I don't want the kids to be given more then one toy at x-mas. She and the rest of my side of the family have agreed to not buy the kids toys at x-mas anymore. The first step has been taken
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