Early on in the new year is the ideal time to get organized and look at things with a fresh pair of eyes.
Whether it’s cleaning out your closet or finally getting those storage bins you’ve been eyeing online, these organizational practices don’t have to just stop with you, because your children can massively benefit from them as well.
According to Greater Good Magazine, staying organized can actually help kids better tackle their schoolwork, manage morning routines, and even aid in how they handle “family conflict.”
Now let’s take a look at five easy ways you can set up your child to be more organized.
Get them started with a planner early in life.
Remember when you were in elementary school and your teacher was always trying to get you to fill out the school-provided planner to keep track of all your homework and tests? It might have felt a bit fruitless at the time, but that kind of routine practice can really help a kid stay on top of everything school-related as well as fun friend dates and their extracurriculars.
You can encourage your child to bring their planner with them to school and write in it throughout the day in each class, just so they know what’s coming up on their to-do list. And when they get home each night, you can help make it a habit to sit down with them and get their planner out and take a look at the days ahead.
If they’re so inclined, they can use their planners to make daily checklists that they get to tick off when they complete a task and use daily stickers to help make it fun.
Show them the importance of time management.
Even throughout the global health crisis and with working from home, most parents are well aware just how much time can get away from us if we’re not careful. When it comes to establishing time management skills with your kids, you don’t want to overdo things, especially if they’re quite young and need that extra playtime and patience. But as they grow older, they can definitely benefit from more scheduling and time management skills.
For example, if they have a couple school assignments coming up with one due on Friday and the other one due next Monday, it can be an important lesson on how they can space their time out accordingly to get everything done. And for those younger kids, you can guide them through time management skills by making a routine of homework time after school followed by 30 minutes of screen time or whatever activity they wish to indulge in.
Chore charts can help the whole family stay organized.
Part of staying organized for both adults and children is thinking about your responsibilities and what needs to get done and when, especially when it comes to house chores.
Having a messy house or room can often contribute to anxiety and lead to procrastination with other important work-related activities. So, why not make a weekly chore chart for the whole family that will allow your kid to see what it takes to keep a house running?
It’s important to keep things age-appropriate, but once your kid reaches age 3 or 4, they will likely be very aware of the messes they are capable of making throughout the house. You can have them take clothes out of the dryer or sweep the floor and clear the table. And it can be a nightly task on the chart to clean up their toys at the end of each day as well.
Help them clear out their personal spaces on a seasonal basis.
As the parent of kids of any age, you’re likely well aware just how much junk can accumulate when your schedule gets hectic and your family starts to leave things for a little too long. When you start to think about your child’s room, closet, desk, or even backpack, there could be things in there that they haven’t actually used in years.
In order to help your kid keep things organized for themselves with their daily necessities and belongings, it’s ideal to have them really look over things and take inventory of items they truly need and use versus what’s just taking up valuable space.
For the items that they no longer have a use for that are in good condition, this is also a great lesson in donating to charity. You can help your kid discover local charities in your area and have them choose one or two where you can donate their old clothes and toys.
Allow them to see and help you with your own organization.
Kids are like tiny sponges and take in so much from watching how their family and friends behave, and that includes what kind of house and organizational habits their parents keep.
Leading by example when it comes to sticking to a cleaning routine and staying organized yourself by planning out your days efficiently is likely to have a positive effect on your kid’s own habits.
So the next time you need to sit down and map out how your week is going to look or when you’re getting some organizational storage for your home office, let them see that and involve them in the process. When they see that mom or dad keeps up these habits, they’re given an example of someone who keeps working at it and is a role model for their own behaviors.
