Empower Your Kids: Teach Them to Be Organized
Do your child's belongings seem to multiply overnight? Are you constantly tripping over toys or searching for lost items? If so, it’s time to introduce them to decluttering and organizing. These important skills can help children develop a sense of order, responsibility, and self-sufficiency, all of which will serve them well throughout their lives.
While it might be tempting to assume they’ll learn to declutter and organize at school, these disciplines are best learned at home. As a parent, you’re in the perfect position to teach them how to be responsible for their belongings and their spaces. In this article, you’ll learn key concepts and specific techniques for teaching your children how to declutter and organize.
My children are grown, so it’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to do this kind of teaching at home. I wanted to get a fresh perspective from someone with young kids. Corey Willis of Hey There, Home (heytherehome.com) is a mother of two kids who offers virtual courses on decluttering and decorating. Her blog post, “Kids’ Room Organization: How to Teach Your Kids to Declutter,” is filled with wisdom and practical tips. With Corey’s permission, I’m sharing some of her tips.
I couldn’t agree more with Corey’s assertion that “Kids’ room organization is so much easier in a clutter-free space, but we've got to teach them to declutter first.” Her daughter, who was seven years old when this was written, was a self-professed collector of everything, and when asked her to clean her room, she stuffed things anywhere she could find. It was time for a more thorough inventory, to let some things go, and to put things in order.
After spending a day working with her daughter in her room, there were two big takeaways. Now when her daughter cleans her room, she says it goes much quicker because there’s not as much stuff and she knows where everything belongs. She plays in her room more and keeps it neat mostly on her own because she’s proud of what they accomplished. These are monumental wins!
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the same could be said of your home and your children? If you follow Corey’s steps (the same steps I followed with my own children and with clients’ children) and continue the work of maintenance, you’ll see big results. Plan to dedicate one day per child, working together in their room going through all of their belongings, one container, drawer, and box at a time. Depending on their age, you may need to break the work up into smaller periods of time.
Talk about the power of donations.
Most kids are natural givers. Help them remember how excited they are when they get a new toy, and explain that there are children who don’t get to have this same experience because of their circumstances. When you come across a toy they no longer play with, help them imagine the joy it could bring to another child.
Include your child in the decision-making of where to take the donations, and let them accompany you when you donate. There are many great options for donations, including thrift stores, shelters, churches, family run daycare facilities, preschools, social services, and more. Getting your children involved changes this task from a dreaded chore into a family project.
Teach them two questions.
When your child is making a decision about an item, they can ask themselves these two questions:
Do I use it (or play with it)?
Do I love it?
These are the same questions I recommend for everyone. But what should you do if they love and want to keep everything they own? What if everything is special? That’s why the next step is so crucial. And it’s my favorite part of the process!
Make a place for everything.
We all have limits. When we keep too much, we end up with clutter. We need to choose what to keep based on making sure that it fits in the available spaces in a way that keeps them functional. If it doesn’t fit, then we have two choices. Either we get a bigger space (a bigger room, a bigger house, or a storage unit, none of which I recommend). Or we accept our limits and admit that there’s simply too much stuff for the space we have. It’s as simple as that.
Let the storage containers (boxes, bins, drawers, containers, etc.) set the limits. Help your child understand they can only keep what fits in the storage containers you’ve chosen. This will force them to make tough decisions about what to keep. The space is the decider, not you.
For example, suppose you have a piece of furniture with cubes, each of which has a container for a category of toys. If one of the baskets is the container for toy vehicles, then only the vehicles that can fit in the container can be kept. With the container empty, spread out all the vehicles your child owns. Have them choose their favorite and place it in the container. Then they can choose another one they like, and keep on going until the container is full.
Whatever doesn’t fit into the container will need to be either donated or put away in another location. While you could consider implementing a toy rotation system if you have available space, keep in mind that whenever a holiday or a birthday rolls around, there will be an inflow of new toys.
Use this same process for every category of belongings. Establish a place for everything, put items in that place and label clearly (use pictures for young children), and continue until you’ve gone through everything in their room.
Set up a maintenance schedule.
Once you finish, decide how order will be maintained. Define and demonstrate exactly what you mean by “clean up your room.” When and how often will this need to be done? How will you adjust when the child receives new items? Hint—use the same process, knowing that in order to fit in the new items, some old ones will need to go.
Celebrate your success.
Rejoice in your accomplishment, and praise your child for their cooperation and generosity in donating belongings. Celebrate by doing something fun together.
Conclusion
Teaching children to declutter and organize is an investment in their future. Empower your children to take control of their belongings, create a space that reflects their personality, and embrace the joy of a clutter-free life.