Organizing WITH Kids
As a Certified Professional Organizer®, I love working with kids to organize their spaces. Parents are often surprised that their kids and I can get so much done together. The tips I’m sharing in this post are based on years as a professional organizer and as a mom. My approach is to treat my youngest clients just as I do my adult clients and to respect their ideas and decisions while keeping the focus on progress, not perfection. August is a great time to use these tips to finesse family organizing systems and children’s spaces before the rush of back to school and fall activities.
Break projects down into kid-sized tasks
Instead of overwhelming children with broad phrases like "Organize the Playroom", you are more likely to gain their cooperation when you break the big project into more doable tasks. It also helps if you can make those tasks into fun challenges. I recently did this with a mom and her 10 year old son who DID NOT want to help declutter the playroom on a beautiful summer morning. So I challenged him to find 10 things in the room that he did not need or use and would be ok with me taking away. His whole face light up as he fulfilled the quest. We got 10 things out of the room very quickly and he was thrilled to be done with us. By breaking a big project down into more doable and shorter tasks, we encourage engagement and an understanding of how to tackle a big project.
Don't get stuck on the maybe's
Kids often straddle development stages…they are growing into new activities but are not ready to let go of things that may appear to be outgrown. I've found that it's never a good idea to rush a declutter decision - whether I’m working with an adult or a child. However, we can set ourselves up to make those decisions easier in the future. My tip is to to put 'maybe' items together in a bin and store them high in a closet or in another storage area like a basement. I add a label describing the contents of the bin and negotiate a date in the future - usually 6-9 months out. I find that when kids have the opportunity to revisit the items in the bin on our agreed upon date, the decluttering decisions come much easier and the children appreciate that their decision making process was respected.
Start in the corners
When decluttering kids rooms, it seems like the ‘right’ thing to do is to start with the most obvious piles. But for spaces used by children, it’s better to start at the back of the closet and inside the drawers and work your way out to the center of the room. The items that are taking up storage are most likely to be outgrown - especially for middle-schoolers. At this age, their wardrobe, reading level, hobbies and interests are changing every 6-9 months! Free up that precious storage space by purging the too small clothes and shoes, the outgrown toys, last year's art projects, and so on. Working our way out to the center of the room means that by the time we do get to the piles on the bed, we have freed up storage space to hold the items that are most current and loved.
Empower kids to organize
Get your kids involved in the process of organizing! Whether I’m working with a pre-schooler or a high-schooler, I try to give them as much autonomy as possible and respect their choices. They will be much more likely to manage the solutions they help create. Once the space is organized, keep things that way by teaching kids to edit as they grow. Designate a bin or basket for donations and encourage your kids to contribute to it. By consistently editing, we head off that big cleanup that both kids and their parents dread. By the way, consistent editing works well for adult spaces, too!
Organizing is a process and patience and consistency will lead to results. The end goal is not only a tidy home, but children who possess the ability to organize their space and their schedule. Little ones will soon be in dorm rooms and homes of their own and the skills of organizing will serve them well.