Kids and Organizing and Room Cleaning have come up in many conversations lately, so obviously there’s a need for kids to organize and clean their space. But we have to remember that very often, our kids need to learn how to do these things before we can expect them to just “go clean their rooms” when asked.
A few years ago, I helped a man organize his office, and he told me that I was the first person who hadn’t yelled at him to get organized. His childhood home was not organized, and his frustrated mom would tell the kids to go clean their rooms without teaching the kids what that actually meant. He had never learned how to clean or organize, and his own family got frustrated with him, too.
As children, we learn to speak, walk and eat on our own. We learn to socialize and share and grow. We learn how to study, play music or perhaps play a sport. We learn to brush our teeth, cook a meal, mow the grass or sew a button. But we’re not always taught how to organize, or to clean our room. Some of us are born organized, but others have to learn to organize, and luckily, it is a learnable skill, just like anything else. But we still have to be taught, or pick up the skills along the way.
- If you’re going to talk the talk, you had better walk the walk. Make your own bed, pick up dirty laundry, put away clean laundry, take out your trash.
- Give every room the tools to clean and organize: a laundry hamper and a trash can. Every room needs both, so clutter is less likely to pile up.
- Have everyone start with the basics, every day. Make the bed, pick up dirty laundry, and put away clean clothes. EVERY DAY.
- Create a few rules for everyone to obey, like No Food In the Bedrooms. Simple, straightforward, and it will save lots of mess later!
- Celebrate and corral treasures (defined here as objects that we don’t understand, but our child completely adores). Priceless art, plastic action figures, trophies, plastic jewelry or a gum wrapper from a birthday party. Some kids (and adults) value EVERYTHING and then clutter piles up. Install a couple shelves for treasures, dedicated to for those loved objects. Then explain that once the shelves are full, something has to leave the shelf before a new item is added. Or create a treasure box, and let the same rule apply. Don’t edit the shelf or bin for your child, but stick to the rule and contain the “treasures”.
- Cultivate the habit of periodic purges. For example, the Back to School Clothes Review every August. Or, when our boys were younger, we would go all review toys and books every Fall in prep for the holidays and birthdays, tossing any that were broken, and donating any that were either “too young” for them, or that they just didn’t play with. (Knowing new toys were coming made it easier for the kids to purge the old stuff).
- Give your kids a process. This is on a sign in my sons’ room:
How to Clean Your Room (Do all of these in this order):
• Hang up towel
• Fold blankets
• Straighten up bed
• Pick up dirty laundry and hangers, put all in the hamper
• Put away clean laundry
• Close dresser drawers completely
• Put away hats/bags / belts, etc. in appropriate places
• Put away books on shelf – actually put them away
• Tidy up surfaces on desk, dresser, etc.
• Now we can dust, vacuum and take out the trash.