Have you ever looked at your school-aged child’s room, desk, backpack, or toy room and end up breathless because it is such a disorganized mess? You may have thought, “Umm, they should know how to organize _______ by now.” Sound familiar?
I have heard it from teachers. I have heard it from parents. I have heard it from my mom friends. And I am sure I have said it myself. Well, today is your lucky (or unlucky) day! I am here to tell you that it’s ok and share how you can help your child(ren) develop this magical skill.
While many children know how to organize and keep track of their Shopkins, Legos and yes, even their school work, many don’t just figure it out by themselves. Instead, they come up with their own way that may not be the best and end up losing their toys, missing an entire bag from their Lego set and of course, the ever popular, losing of their school work.
Here is the missing piece of the puzzle… Ready?
The magical skill of being organized requires a system AND regular maintenance. Yep, you can set up all the fancy notebooks and toy baskets but if they don’t learn to maintain them, those systems will be useless. A system dictates where and how you will keep track of the stuff. For example, cars go in the blue basket. Math worksheets go in the orange folder. The maintenance piece requires daily, weekly, monthly, side-by-side and step-by-step “system maintenance time.”
I know you are rolling your eyes saying you don’t have time for this. But I promise this is will pay into a future organized child, student, and adult. I have broken it down into 2 steps just for you!
- Be specific– Saying “clean up your toys” is very different from “put your blocks in the red bucket,” or “put your shoes on the shelf.” Clean your desk may mean nothing to a school-aged child. However, “take everything out,” “throw away all of the papers we don’t need,” “place all books on the left side, place all folders on the right,” is step-by-step and specific. The child will know exactly what is expected when you break it down for them.
- Schedule time to do it together – Yes, I said together. In the beginning, they need that accountability piece built in and you are it! I have great success with a daily together maintenance time then 2-3 x a week then once a week and gradually decreasing the together time from there. They will continue to do it independently with a reminder or a checklist to keep them accountable.
This should set you up with a strategy to help your little ones develop the ever-important and magical skill of being organized. If you want more strategies and solutions to help with this, I have something just for you: a free online training seminar all about systems, time awareness, and values. Click here to get started!
Happy maintaining!
