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Having Fun Organizing Your Kid’s Rooms
Copyright 2005 Kerry Flinders
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I have to say that I LOVE organizing kids rooms. Yes, they do take more time
than most other areas. Yes, they do just get messy again and again, since they
are in fact kids living in there. But it's just so fun.
How, you might be asking do I have "fun" cleaning and organizing a kid’s room?
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Well...
1. I always include the kid(s) who live in the room, whose stuff it is. I even
include toddlers in the process. I find that until the child turns 9 or so they
actually like helping to clean up their own rooms. This helps train them young
on how to actually organize their own room. Both my boys can clean and organize
their own rooms without me now.
2. I use it as "learning time". I would get buckets/bins in different colors. We
would pick a certain color for a certain type of toy. Maybe the green bucket
would be for all the soldiers. Pink for Barbie’s; with light pink for her Barbie
clothes. Small kids learn colors quickly, so take advantage of it.
3. Make sure that every grouping of like toys has a home. I suggest
buckets/baskets/bins/boxes. A large toy box that catches everything and anything
should be avoided at all costs. You do not want to "force" your kid to dig
through one box to find a certain toy. You will always find a mess on the floor
that way. Many smaller boxes/bins will work much better. Make sure that if they
have lids that they are easily workable by little fingers, or you will
constantly be called into action.
4. Label the outside of all those bins. For very small kids who don't read yet
take or draw pictures of what is inside and glue it to the bin. There are many
stickers out there for the scrap booking world that work great for this purpose
as well.
5. Purge often. I find that in this day and age our children receive so many
toys throughout the year that it's often very overwhelming for the kids. What
should they play with when they have a bazillion choices?? Every month go
through their things and donate all the items the child has outgrown, or doesn't
like anymore.
6. Rotate. Do you find that after a good purge that your child still has too
many great toys and your child is still overwhelmed? Rotate them. Get some
closable bins for the top of the closet. Put some of their things away for the
month. Next month pull them out and put the toys from last month up there. Your
child will be so excited to see their "new" old toys that they will play with
them like they never did when they were all out together. This worked very well
with my own kids when they were growing up.
7. "One In...One Out". This is a concept I taught my kids when their rooms
became too full of things to manage well.
They were very young. I explained that whenever they accepted a new toy from a
grandparent or friend that they needed to go into their existing toys and pick
out one that we could donate to a needy child. I told them that it wasn't fair
that they had so many wonderful things and that there were little kids out there
with nothing to play with.
This taught them charity as well as how to purge on their own...something that a
lot of my adult clients still don't know how to do.
8. Clean up when you're done. Teach your children that they need to clean up the
stuff from one activity before they proceed to a new activity. When they are
toddlers and small children you will need to help them of course. But if you
enforce this household rule then even when they are teenagers they will know
that they better clean up one mess before they make another one. This way their
messes are never overwhelming to them.
9. Clean up at night. Before bedtime is a perfect time to go into their rooms
with them and supervise them putting their things away. Then they can crawl out
of bed the next morning to a clean and tidy space.
10. Keep on them. One thing I've learned from my own kids is that the above
points must be enforced daily by ME. If I am not feeling well for a few days and
do not spend the time needed on enforcing the above points then when I am
feeling well enough to check out their rooms...well, they're disaster areas. So,
don't let their rooms fall behind whenever possible. Even go into your teen's
room once a week or so and inspect drawers, under beds, hiding places. Pull
things out; have them put them away properly.
11. As your children get a little older make them clean up after themselves ALL
THE TIME. I taught both my boys how to do their own laundry when they were 9
years old. I got a two sided hamper for each room, taught them to sort and how
to wash, fold and put away their laundry. I have not done either of their
laundry since. I just check to be sure they are doing it correctly. Oh, and I do
have to be the one to tell them it's time to do the laundry, or else they will
never do it on their own...they'd rather wear dirty clothes...yuck.
When your child leaves toys around the house don't pick them up yourself. Call
the child in from where ever they are and have them put it away right then and
there. Even my two year old niece will clean up her toys if I sit there and
point each one out one at a time and direct her where to put them.
Do not be your child's maid simply because it is easier.
You will produce some very spoiled, lazy, messy kids that way. Take the time to
train them to be neat. It is well worth it over time.
12. Repeat. Remember that kids will try to get away with as much stuff as
possible. A rule at my home that tackles this problem is...repeat. What I mean
by this is that my kids will be expected to repeat a chore over and over and
over...and over and over until they do it correctly. So if they are told to put
away the legos and I go check on them when they say they're done, and I find
they put them away incorrectly they are expected to do it again. And again,
until they choose to do it correctly. Trust me, they will not do this too often
once they realize you will make them do it again for as many times as it takes,
never giving in and doing it yourself.
So that’s how I tackle organizing a child’s room…and how I enjoy it as well. Now
it’s your turn to whip your child’s room into shape. Be sure to include them, be
sure to enforce the new rules you lay down. You can train your kids to keep
their rooms clean and organized. It will take some effort from you to make sure
they’re doing it, but you will spend much less time enforcing your new rules,
than you will actually cleaning up after your kids for them.
Good luck, and happy organizing!
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About the Author: The author Kerry
Flinders is the owner of Personal Organizing Solutions located
in Southern California. Kerry and her company are dedicated to
helping others organize their clutter and their lives,
eliminating unnecessary stress and helping the client to find
more time in their day for the things they love. Kerry is the
author of the book “Organizing With NO Budget”. You can find out
more about Kerry and Personal Organizing Solutions by visiting
their website at
http://personalorganizingsolutions.com
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