I’m so deeply honored today to have Julie Bestry, a fabulous professional organizer from Chattanooga, guest posting here at Stuff Parents Need. I was introduced to her a few months ago at a meet-up for bloggers, and realized immediately that she had some nuggets of wisdom that you could benefit from hearing. And let’s be real, I need some help in the organizational department, myself! This is part of one of her post. Part two will go live in just a few days. Get a pen and paper out because I guarantee you are about to get some great ideas!
Organized Kids: An Operator’s Manual
What do parents need? Some serenity. Not lost library books, forgotten lunch boxes and missed parties. Teaching children organizing skills can be difficult, especially when parents don’t feel they’ve entirely mastered those abilities, themselves. As a professional organizer, I see how disorganization leads to morning arguments, wasted time and money and dissention in the family ranks. But there’s hope – you can be relaxed instea
d of regimented and still find matching socks. Simple strategies can transform life with kids from disorganized to delightful.
Building Blocks
Just as grocery shopping and a walk around the neighborhood are great opportunities to teach kids colors, numbers and the alphabet, even a two-year-old can benefit from having you point out basic organizing themes, like matching items and grouping them together. Seat pre-schoolers with you as you fold the laundry and have them find two matching blue socks, or help you put all the folded hand towels on one shelf.
A Place For Everything
Everything should have a home, but not everything has to live with you. That means that if something belongs in your home (or life or schedule), you need to create a defined place for it so there’s no question where it belongs. If it’s no longer used, enjoyed or appreciated, it‘s time to let it go.
For pre-schoolers, it helps to anthropomorphize possessions — pretend you hear the shoes in the middle of the floor whining because they’re lonely and miss their other shoe “friends” in the closet. If dolls and stuffed animals have secret lives, why not toys and clothes? By the time kids are too old to want to play along, the good habits will already be embedded.
For school-aged kids, consider advising that items abandoned (i.e., left far from where they belong) for more than two days will go into Time Out and won’t be returned for a defined period of time. Obviously, this works better with gadgets and toys than science books, but it’s a start.
Label, Label, Label
Once kids have mastered the idea of matched items belonging together, make it easy for them to know what goes where. For children who can read, label the interiors of kitchen and bathroom cabinets and edges of shelves so they can practice helping you put things away. Electronic label makers create easily-removed labels, and your kids can even help you create the labels – just proofread before hitting PRINT.
For pre-literate kids, post a photo of Barbie or action figures or LEGOs on the bins or drawers where those toys should be kept.
Put Yourself In Their (Tiny) Shoes
Those of us standing above five feet tall can forget what it’s like to be half that size. Make sure that the organizing tools you use for your children take their size, range of motion and manual dexterity into account. In children’s closets, be sure to have a low rod and shelves they can reach if you want to help them master dressing themselves and putting clothes away.
Use tubular child-size hangers – they’re sturdier, fatter, and easier for small fingers to maneuver, and brightly colored hangers motivate kids to hang up their clothes. Keep current-season clothes on the bottom rod and next season/next size clothing on the top. If your four-year-old likes to play dress-up in her best outfit, keep special occasion clothes out of reach, too.
Parents typically put underwear and socks in top dresser drawers, but if you want your kids to start dressing themselves, put foundation garments in the lowest drawers.
Tiny hands have difficulty manipulating hangers; add hooks to walls and the backs of doors (especially in the bathroom, bedroom and entry areas) so even toddlers can master hanging up towels, bathrobes and book bags. I highly recommend 3M’s Command-brand hooks, whi
ch come in all styles, from elegant décor to Disney-themed, hold a surprising amount of weight and can be easily removed without leaving any marks.
Use vertical space to your advantage to tuck away small toys and accessories with translucent shoe organizers or Simply Stashed organizers (above). (Stuff Parents Need readers can use coupon code BESTRESULTS for 10% off.)
Beds with oodles of fancy pillows may suit fashionable tastes, but it’s not an easy look for kids to replicate when they’re just learning how to make their beds. Consider skipping bedspreads and top sheets (which often tangle and come loose from their hospital corners) and stick with fitted sheets, comforters and one non-decorative pillow.
Stay tuned for part II!
Julie Bestry is a Certified Professional Organizer, speaker and author, who helps individuals and businesses save time and money, reduce stress and increase productivity. Although a generalist, Julie specializes in paper organizing, blogs as the Paper Doll, and publishes Best Results for Busy People: Organizing Your Modern World. For more information, visit Best Results Organizing at http://www.juliebestry.com.