START YOUNG – GET KIDS ORGANIZED

It’s never too early to start teaching your kids to be neat and organized. When my grandchild was only two years old she knew that before she left my house to go back home she had to put her toys away. She knew that I had a toy basket where I put all of her books and toys and that’s where everything went. No excuses. I like my home neat and I expected her to help. All it took was my showing her how to put the toys back in the basket and she quickly followed my example.

An organized home doesn’t miraculously happen. It takes everyone in the home to create an environment that is organized and functions smoothly. Having kids doesn’t mean that your home has to be disorganized or a cluttered mess. Children learn from their parents. If you start expecting things from your children at a young age and teach them responsibility you can have a home that is neat and organized.

The point is to teach your child some valuable tools for the future. It is really important to give them encouragement and let them know that they did a good job.

The problem that I seem to have run into is that most of the parents that I deal with have no expectations of their children. Toys and clothes are strewn all over the house and the children are never told to put them away.

Or if they are told, the kids ignore the “request” and the parents ignore the fact that they are being ignored. See the cycle?

In today’s society most households have two parents that work, therefore it’s more important than ever that kids help out around the house. Parents are parents…not maids and butlers. Maybe it’s the fact that both parents do work and have less time than they did years ago that they feel guilty about not being around and therefore allow their children to get away with not helping. They are not doing their children any favors.

By not teaching them to help around the house or to pick up after themselves they are setting them up for failure.

An organized child will do better in school. If they have their rooms organized and their clothes organized they will have everything at their fingertips and will not be late for school and they will be prepared for their classes.

Some parents think that just because they themselves are not very neat and organized means that they can’t or don’t have the right to tell their children to pick up after themselves. This is where I have to remind them that they are the parent. They have rights that children don’t. Remember the old saying: “do what I say and not what I do”?

How many parents are overwhelmed by math and science today? Does that mean that your kids don’t have to do their homework? Just because you don’t get it?

It’s the same way with being organized. Just because you may not be the most organized person doesn’t mean that you can’t expect your child to be. If you can’t teach them to be organized yourself then you can hire a professional organizer to come in and teach them to be organized… just as you would hire a swim instructor if you can’t swim or an ice skating instructor if you can’t skate.

I’ve had parents hire me to teach their children how to organize their room and organize their closets and show them how to fold their clothes (instead of just shoving them into their drawers). Kids tend to listen to everyone except their parents.

Give your child the tools they need to be successful. Start them young and expect things from them. They will thank you….later…when they are grown up.

Some things that kids can do:

2 – 4 year olds

Put away toys
Pick up clothes off of the floor

4 – 6 year olds

Clean up spills
Wipe kitchen table
Learn to make bed
Learn to set the table
Match socks

6 – 8 year olds

Make the bed
Put dishes away
Sweep the floors
Put clothes into the hamper
Set the table
Clear the table
Learn to separate clothes for the laundry
Dust

8 – 12 year olds

Put their own laundry away
Help make dinner
Make their own lunches
Rake leaves
Help wash the car
Empty garbage
Clean the bathroom
Help with actually doing the laundry
Weed the garden

13 – 15 year olds

Clean the entire house
Learn to manage their schedule
Mow the lawn
Yard work
Wash the car on their own
Babysit

16 – 18 year olds

Get an after school job
Go to the grocery store
Run errands as needed
Learn how to make a resume
Learn how to manage money



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