Kids organization is a constant struggle, and the epicenter of proof is usually the kid's bedroom. Toys and other items left on the floor or placed in the wrong place, shelves a mess, and drawers in shambles -- these are some of the major frustrations. These frustration can mount after spending time cleaning and organizing a kid's room, only to find it destroyed a couple hours later.
A child may not keep their room organized for several reasons: lack of knowledge, lack of focus, not wanting or needing to, and/or not having the organization tools or storage. Learn to make the child's room work for them by giving them the kids' organization tools and kids' storage solutions that work best for them. (Read How to Organize Kids to learn how to get kids to want to organize).
Organize with the Child's Point of View in Mind
A child may have limitations like height and know-how, for example. They also may have favorites, traits, and habits. All of these need to be considered when choosing how to organize a child's bedroom. The kids organization solutions need to work for the child.
- Bring the items the children use frequently down to their height level. Closet rods can be brought down lower with closet doublers and their favorite items can be brought down to the bottom shelves..
- Closet doors can be removed if a child has difficulty getting into the closet.
- Use smaller containers for specific items, as opposed to a large toy box that is used for everything.
Get down low and look at the room from the child's perspective. Are the items used most often easy to access?
Make it Simple for The Child to Stay Organized
Don't handicap the child by creating a confusing area that is difficult to organize. A lot of times, a child's room can be shared with a sibling, have toys that are not used, have out of season clothing or clothing that no longer fit, and even be used as an overflow storage area for the rest of the home. Get everything out of the room that is not used by the child, then create simple storage solutions.
Here are some tips:
- Use labels and pictures to place on containers. This way the child has no excuse for placing items in the wrong area. Let the child help to take the pictures and to label their containers, so that they can take pride and ownership in getting their room organized.
- Let the child choose toys to donate to others prior to birthdays and holidays. Discuss with the child that they need to give toys to other children, in order to receive new toys as gifts.
- Keep the most used items on the bottom shelves and in the bottom drawers. Make it easy for the child to access.
Get the Child Involved with Routines
Ensure that the child receives no benefit without taking care of their responsibilities. Kids' organization will not work unless the child keeps it that way. A routine needs to be followed and enforced without waiver for the child to keep their room organized. This can be very difficult to maintain as the child will push back.
Create routines prior to their normal daily rewards (snack, going to the park, going shopping with mom, and so on). If the child does not take care of their responsibility, they don't get what they want ... it's their choice. For example, if the child receives a daily afternoon snack, let the child know prior to snack time that the bedroom floor needs to be clean, otherwise there will be no snack.
Learn more about how to organize kids.
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