How to Help a Child Become Organized

Helping a child develop organization skills starts at an early age when the kids see you organizing your home, work and activities. Keep the organizational methods age-appropriate and easy for kids to keep up with, in order to encourage their success.

Instructions

1. Ask your child to help set out the outfits he'll wear the for the week each Sunday. Include clean underclothing, socks and accessories, like shoes. Place them in a hanging bin with each day of the week clearly marked. You can also teach kids to separate their clothing by hanging pants together and shirts together.

2. Set aside a specific time for your children to tidy their room each day. For younger children, you may need to help them with this task. Make it fun and encourage them to put things away in their proper location.

3. Label toy boxes or storage bins so kids know where to put toys away. For small kids, label the containers with pictures of the toys that belong inside.

4. Keep books in baskets so your kids can flip through them to find the book they want rather than lining them up on a book shelf. Baskets make it easier for kids to find books and put them away when they're done reading them.

5. Create a routine for school work that includes a place where all the supplies they need are handy so they can successfully finish their work. Teach the kids that organizational skills include gathering the appropriate tools for each job and keeping those tools together.

6. Praise kids for organization skills to encourage them to continue the process. Kids will do nearly anything to please parents, so praising their attempts is a good motivation for them to keep working.

Tips & Warnings

• Minimize the clutter in your child's room. Few kids really need hundreds of crayons or three containers of locking blocks. Store the extras for those large projects that come up and keep the amount of toys manageable.