emmy83's Profile

I'm with those who have noted that true "hoarders" need therapy and/or medication to stop in most instances. I usually describe it as the difference between a "hoarder" and a "packrat." You describe someone who just needs to get better at editing, not someone who is mentally ill.

Since I have a parent who is a legitimate hoarder, I always try to make the distinction because I feel like confusing what you are talking about with hoarding kind of minimizes what my family is dealing with here.

All that said, as a child of a hoarder, I throw away EVERYTHING. I hear that's common, I just never want to have to navigate piles of junk. And I shred mail the same day I get it.

I have to agree on the suggestion that parents not go too crazy. It's kind of like the clothes you wear--it's not fair that people won't take you seriously in a too-short skirt. But that's how it is, so you can accept it or deal with the consequences.

I practice criminal law, and we regularly talk about some names being out of the question for our children because they are such common names for criminal defendants. Other names, you can't help but wonder what chance they had for a normal life!

Lindy Lou Lemons, Timbbrr Wolffe Jones, Jaxson Jackson, and Dezaray Peters don't sound like physicians, judges, and business owners. They just don't. There is something to be said for not naming your kids something all the other kids are called. Ten percent of the girls in my high school class were named Emily! ("I really thought people was naming their daughters Hannah" --my mom.) But people WILL judge a kid by his or her name, whether you like it or not.