5 Rules To Help Your Kids Stay Organized
The holiday season often comes with lots and lots of STUFF. Among the rules I share below, I think embracing activities and time spent together more than just gift exchanging is a huge help with reducing the overwhelm that stuff adds to our homes. Not just because of space, but the stress of buying and choosing the perfect gift just to GIVE something can be draining financially and emotionally. Unless you know the person will love it, try doing something fun together instead of exchanging gifts.
Here are five rules to help you and your family live in a more organized and less chaotic environment leading up to this gift giving season.
RULE #1: Keep Toys on Rotation
Even old toys will feel brand new when a child hasn’t seen it in a few weeks! I recommend organizing containers of toys that are accessible, then packing them up, and pulling out stored containers filled with different toys periodically. This also works with moving toys to different areas of the house by swapping upstairs toys with downstairs toys, or even changing out car toys. Get the most out of the toys you buy!
RULE #2: Clean Up Before (or after) Bedtime
I know, I know. By the end of the day picking up a bunch of toys is the LAST thing you want to do. Our kids learn by example and if you want organized kids, you have to lead the way! If you don’t clean up right after playtime, making it a family routine to do it before bed is a perfect reset button for the following morning. To make it more interesting you can play the clean up song and set a 10 minute timer. If you have a competitive family you can turn clean up time into a race, by setting a timer and see who gets their space done that fastest. One kid? You can be a team and try to beat your own personal best every night, or once a week. If your child isn’t up to cleaning some nights, it’s okay to tell them that they can take a break for the night and you’ll help them by organizing their toys. Then, show them in the morning that you completed the task so they can celebrate it with you!
RULE #3: Less Is More
Too many toys can be distracting for kids and they actually have a shorter attention span with each toy because there are so many to choose from. This ties into Rule #1, so they have less toys out at one time. If you wonder why your child has a hard time entertaining themselves or sitting with toys/books for 20 minutes or longer, it could be that there is too much visual clutter distracting them from the current task. Compare it to an adult working from home. It’s nearly impossible to focus on work when you have laundry, Netflix, dinner, cleaning, kids, books, and a hundred other things you could be doing. Your kids will appreciate having access to less. Donate unused toys often, dispose of broken toys/parts, and temporarily store some away if you have a lot.
RULE #4: Use Child Friendly Storage
Complicated systems will be a roadblock to your child easily putting their toys away and even getting toys out to entertain themselves. If you know your child will never put toys back by category, don’t try to force that system and use large, low bins for them to easily toss everything back after playtime. If your child seems ready for categories use picture labels, color coded bins, or word labels to help them find the container. Most importantly, every toy should have a home in a container or on a shelf so your child learns that the floor is not where we keep our toys.
RULE #5: Give Gifts Slowly (and as rewards!)
Ahhh, the sweet chaos of figuring out where to put twenty new toys after your four year old’s birthday party. Instead of opening all of the birthday/holiday presents at once, I recommend giving one or two gift’s once a week or every couple of weeks for their achievements. This is a lot less overwhelming on your child and they actually appreciate the single gift for a longer time. How many times have you felt like your child loses interest in a toy just hours after Christmas morning? Adding new stuff slowly will give you and your child time to replace it with something no longer used and give it a proper home without piling too much on at once.