3 Days of Chores Kids Can Do Over the Holiday Break: Closets, Drawers and Shoes

Over the holiday break from school encompassing Christmas and New Year's, kids will have some extra free time on their hands. They deserve some free time to relax, hang out with friends and enjoy their new gifts but there is plenty of time to be productive too. Since there are new items to be incorporated into their living space from jeans and boots to coats and pajamas, the holiday break is a great time to reorganize and weed out items as well as find homes for new gifts.

The Benefits of Assigning Chores Over Holiday Break

-Keeping kids busy helps avoid those nasty words, "I'm bored."

-Getting some areas cleaned up and organized will make life easier when it's time to go back to school.

-When kids clean and organize, they'll be more likely to be invested in keeping things clean and organized.

-It's only realistic to learn that they will always have jobs to do on their "days off."

Reorganizing shoes:

Have kids create or restore a system of organizing their shoes putting in season shoes in prime locations and out of season shoes out of the way. Are there shoes that need to be passed down, donated to charity, washed or polished?

If you're in the throws of winter weather, flip-flops shouldn't be front and center and snow boots shouldn't be buried. Day one is all about the shoes.

Organizing closets:

Have kids create or restore a system of organizing their clothes in their closets putting in season clothes in prime locations and out of season clothes out of the way. Are there any clothes that need to be handed down, given to charity, mended or washed? Have kids collect all the unused hangers in their closet and take them to laundry room.

Getting outgrown or out of season clothes out of the way, can reduce the "you're not wearing that" friction on school mornings. By the end of day two, kids closets should be neat and organized and they can even group outfits for the return to school.

Cleaning out dresser drawers:

Have kids organize or reorganize dresser drawers with a specific drawers for categories of clothing like underclothes, socks, pajamas, t-shirts, sports practice clothes and uniforms and so on. Are there any items in the drawers that are outgrown or never worn and can be removed?

Have kids remove all "odd" items from drawers. Most likely things like postcards, hair brushes, match box cars, pencils, screwdrivers, batteries, Barbie shoes, army men and tooth paste samples all have other homes somewhere in the house they can return to. Yes, these items were an actual sample of stray items in only two drawers in my kid's rooms. We're already working on the 3 day room chores challenge.