Empower Children to
Organize Their Space

People who have not learned organizational skills as children have trouble keeping up later in life—in school, at home and at the office. Organization is not part of birth—it is learned and should be taught as soon as possible.

Teaching children how to become and remain organized at home will help them do well in school. When children learn to conquer their home environment, they are ready to conquer school and the outside world, too.

Children who learn time management and organizational skills from their parents tend to do better once the youngsters begin school. One sign of low self-esteem in adults and children is clutter. You have to care about yourself to make a change in your life, and you can help create confidence through organization.

Kids need rules and routines. Whether they like rules or not, knowing and seeing them consistently enforced creates a secure atmosphere. Routines reduce the frustration that comes with having to nag children. And they create more time for fun and togetherness. Children get quickly frustrated when they cannot find the things they want.

Take a child’s perspective.
Look at your children’s space, storage, furniture and belongings from their vantage point. Start at the floor level when placing hooks, pegs and cubbyholes.

Create fun.
Turn chores into games where possible and liven up activities up with music.

Label everything.
Use labels based on your children’s ability to comprehend. You can use graphics from your computer or actual photographs on the outside of containers. Or let your children draw their own labels to get them involved. Color-coding also works well.

Purge constantly.
Since children are always outgrowing their clothes and toys, it is important to clean out every year. For children who fight giving up their toys, include them when taking items to a needy family. It is never too early to teach children about giving to others.

Develop routines.
Create a morning or evening pick-up routine, based on your child’s best time of day. Just as you hate cleaning up to have yet another mess the following day, your child feels similar frustrations.

Make a deal with yourself and your child to create a more organized environment and you will enjoy the benefits of having a more organized home and child—less stress, less frustration and more quality time.