ARTICLES - 10 Tips to Organize Your Child

CLEAN YOUR ROOM!
Your child might tune you out because you're nagging him or her again. Or they know if you get frustrated enough, you're going to clean the room yourself. Nobody wins this one.

Your child needs your help and guidance. More likely your child doesn't have the skills, enough space, shelves or containers to organize his room. Talk to your child and choose a date to organize and clean his or her room. In order to commit, persuade your child to mark it on the calendar. This is a perfect opportunity to spend quality time with your child, teach him or her a skill and accomplish something.

• Pull everything out of his or her closet. Sort the items that belong together: clothes, shoes, books and toys.

• Ask him or her to try on the clothes to make sure they fit. Get two big boxes and mark them: Donate, Keep or Sell. Go through every piece of clothing keeping only what fits and what your child likes. Keep in mind that 25 T-shirts is a barrier to the things they really need.

• To reward your child for donating his or her clothes and toys to a less fortunate child, take him to a movie, offer to do some of his or her chores or have his or her friend over for a sleepover.

• Use open shelves and containers instead of a toy box to store his or her toys. They will have a better view of their belongings and easy access.

• Help your child choose a color for their personal containers, baskets or shelves. Let your child decorate his or her containers with stickers, stenciling or pictures of animals, flowers or their favorite sports stars. Label everything! Buy a laminated chores poster and help him or her write down weekly chores, then erase the board when the chores are finished.

• Lower the rods in your child's closet to make it easier for him or her to hang clothes.



• To make it easier for your child to hang his or her clothes, buy child-size hangers.

• For older children, buy a portable filing system to store their documents, awards and pictures.

• Buy attractive big pegs to hang robes or pajamas.

• Buy a laundry hamper and garbage can for your child's room. Write down the laundry and garbage day.

Help your child to maintain his or her room by having him or her make the bed every morning and putting the dirty laundry in the hamper. Once the room is organized and cleaned, it will take him or her three to five minutes to keep it clean and tidy.