Last updated : Monday, March 15, 2010

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Instill Organizational Skills in Your Kids

Keeping your home organized is essential to leading a productive, low-stress and happy lifestyle. Teaching children how to stay organized while they're young will not only help you around the house, but it will surely benefit them throughout their lives. We went to Suzette Samaroo-Fennell, founder of B-Organized, for her tips on ways you can instill organizational skills in your children to make everyone's lives easier. 

1. Make It Fun 
Get young ones involved and excited about organizing, teach and train them early in life. Make organization a game and fun for them by setting a timer (10-15 minutes) each evening, for them to pick up and place all of their items (toys, clothes, books etc...) back into its proper storage areas. A little each day will keep the clutter bug away. Reward them weekly with an extra hour on one night to stay up later, 30 minutes extra of play time on the weekend, a pizza night with friends or a play date etc… 

2. Make It a "Feel Good" Activity
Teach them that giving and sharing are good things to do. Take them with you when donating items so that they get the full effect of the "feeling" and meaning of giving. 

3. Choose Storage Wisely
Select fun, colorful storage solutions. 

4. Make It Easy 
Label solid storage containers, if the child is too young to read, categorize the items, take a photo of the contents and place the photo on the outside of the storage item.

For more on organization, go to the At Home section.

 

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