Organized Kids : Use Montessori Tips to Stay Organized

There is a good chance you had "getting organized" somewhere on your list of New Year's resolutions. And if your house is anything like mine, getting the kids' stuff organized is the hardest of all.

There are a lot of benefits to having your children's possessions stored neatly in accessible, organized areas. One is that children naturally like order, especially toddlers and early teens. I know it doesn't look like it when you see Legos and building blocks and dirty socks and books all jumbled in a heap on the floor. But children feel more secure when they know where everything belongs. And they feel like a successful member of the family when they can help put their things where they belong. We just have to help with the organizing.

A big, adult-size house can look overwhelming to a child. I find that looking at my child's bedroom sometimes feels overwhelming to me. Resizing adult-sized objects to make them manageable for children is at the heart of the Montessori philosophy and goes a long way to helping your children become self-sufficient. Here are some organizing tips to get you started:

Low Shelves. Have shelves where children can reach them. These shelves can be organized with smaller bins and clear boxes to hold toys. Having a large toy box is overwhelming, confusing, and practically guarantees that all the toys will be pulled out and few will be played with. You can label the bins with pictures of the object type (like action figures, for example) or with words if the child can read.

Make the wardrobe accessible. Lower the clothing bar in the closet to where your child can reach it to hang up and take off his own clothes. Organize a shoe rack low enough so he can choose, take out, and put away his own shoes. Make sure drawers are organized by type of clothing, easy to open, and not so full that they are overwhelming. You can label the drawers with a picture of pajamas, for instance, to show what each drawer is supposed to hold. Fold socks together so mates don't get lost.

Bathrooms are for kids, too. Put a sturdy stool in front of the sink so your kid can wash her own hands. You can hang a reminder sign next to the hand soap with a picture reminder if the child can't read. Put a stool in front of the toilet if your child needs it. If your child has a hard time reaching the toilet paper from the toilet, buy a freestanding toilet paper holder so she can move it to where she can reach it herself. We have found that putting bath toys into a mesh bag with suction cups helps keep the bathtub free of kid clutter, since they can pick up the toys and let them drain. We have towel hooks on the back of the bathroom door that is low enough for the girls to hang their own towel, too.

Even preschoolers can help with laundry. Some organizing experts advocate having a laundry hamper in each child's room. This might work with older children, but with our preschool aged children, I simply have a central laundry basket where they are expected to put their clothes when they take them off. Once their clothing drawers are organized, it is easy for children to help put their own clothes away, too.

These tips will help organize your home, make it easier for you to manage, and make it easier for your children to do their part in helping you. And to make this organizing project a little easier, let's hit a couple of "hot spots" or clutter-prone areas to clean out.

Stuffed toys! Is it just me, or do they multiply during the night? How does a parent resist the pleading that each stuffed creature is special, and yes, they really do need another one? It helps to organize if you buy a mesh hammock made to hold toys off the floor, and toss those fur balls in it! Your child can also make a game out of clean up time this way. Just make sure the hammock is low enough for your child to reach it without pulling on the hammock.

Artwork. It started around two years old with the first coloring sheet from Sunday School. Adding Vacation Bible School, preschool two days a week, and independent art sessions hasn't improved the piles and piles of paper all over our house. There are a couple of approaches you can take to organizing these masterpieces. You can cull them yourself every few weeks and only save two or three pieces of paper per quarter. You can save them all and every few months ask your child to go through the papers and choose his or her favorites to save in a clear bin in a storage area. Or you can use flat boxes (pizza boxes or gift shirt boxes from Christmas work great!) to store each and every piece of evidence that your child is a genius. Slide these boxes under the bed and write the date on the outside with Magic Marker.

Children really do benefit from an organized environment. If nothing else, they benefit from having a parent who isn't stressed out by the piles of junk (er, treasures) lying around the house. Here's to a more organized year!