How to Teach Your Child Become More Organized

Being organized is one of those areas of homemaking that many people are lacking in. Yet, we know beyond a doubt that having an organized home is a necessary activity that will give us peace of mind and help to keep things running smoothly. While we as adults often struggle with the organization process with a little direction, your child can develop the skill to be organized at a young age which will make for an easier life both now and in the future. 

We have the opportunity to help our children learn to be organized now while they are still children which will make their lives easier for them as adults. Remember that routines developed in childhood tend to stick with a person throughout their lives. This means that the earlier you start, the more successful they’ll be with being organized. 

Teach your child healthy habits that lead to a cleaner more organized space. The key to having a home that cleans itself and an organized healthy family is to create healthy habits that keep the flow of daily life going smoothly without a fight. When instilling these new healthy habits choose one new habit to work in every month using a cart to help with reminders until the habit is built. 

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8 Ways to Teach Your Child to be More Organized

1- Set an organized example for your child. 

When our kids see us living with our own disorganization they don’t see anything wrong with being disorganized or have an example of a better way. Get your personal space such as your bedroom and your office space clean and organized so your child can see your progress. 

Then, start working on communal areas of the home like the kitchen to start organizing when you have a few minutes here and there. Your child is always watching you and will take notice. 

2- Teach Your Child to Use a Planner (even if it’s a digital one or an app).

Get your child a planner and teach them how to use it. Planners are great tools for helping our kids learn to keep track of things they need to remember from their schoolwork to social events. We often think about using planners for ourselves to help us keep organized but this tool is an amazing asset for our kids as well. 

Many schools provide planners to kids during the school year because they have been proven to be an effective organizational tool. And, even homeschool moms have been using student planners for kids to help them to stay on-task with their lessons. 

Carrying this idea on to your child’s personal life by teaching them to use a planner for activities outside of school is a great way to teach them to fully utilize planners as an organizational tool. 

3- Teach Kids to Use Lists to Stay Organized

Teach your child to make checklists and to-do lists to help remember and keep on top of things. Keeping a checklist of things they should have when they leave out the door is a great way to prevent extra trips from forgotten items. 

Checklists are also great for:

• instilling daily routines
• staying on top of chores
• managing self-care routines
• balancing schoolwork
• and helps to ensure projects are completed on time

4- Having a Family that Works Together to be Organized Reinforces Learning

Get the whole family involved in being more organized. Create a schedule for the whole family including when chores are done. This helps your children learn that organization is important for everyone and helps take the stress off your shoulders when it comes to balancing a family going in 50 different directions. 

Plus, we never want our kids to think of us as the family maid. We want to teach them that the family should all work together and be responsible for the way a household functions. 

5- Teach the Color-coding Method of Organization

Start color-coding your child’s life. Even young kids can benefit from color-coding. This method is a very effective organizational tool because it gives us a visual representation of information. From color coding school subjects to storage bins even preschoolers without literacy skills can learn to remember what goes where. 

6- Set Your Children Up for Organizational Success

Whether you homeschool or utilize public school chances are your kids need a space to keep their lessons, books, and supplies organized. 

Giving your child their own space will help them keep their school work organized. Whether it be a full-fledged desk in their bedroom or a small area in the family room that’s all their own having an organized space and supplies can help them to keep track of their schoolwork and teaches them to stay on task and be responsible for their own work.

Ideas for Organizing Your Child’s School Work Space

• a basket they can take to the dining room and then pack back up to take to their bedroom at the end of the day
• a dedicated shelf for their school work
• a closet where each child’s books and lessons can be organized on their own shelf. 

7- Teach Your Children How to Declutter Often

Help them to declutter often by teaching them to clear away things they no longer need, broken toys, and all of the dishes that seem to land in their bedrooms. 

Kids tend to hold onto things much longer than they should. This could be because of both an interest in keeping everything under the sun because of sentimental value or it could be a lack of motivation to get rid of things. 

The more clutter your child has the more stuff they have to clean up leading to a messier space that can easily get out of hand. Teaching your child to clear away clutter will help them stay organized and keep their space cleaner. 

8- Having a Place for Everything

Create places for everything in your home. When everything has a place to return to it is less likely to get dumped on the nearest flat surface or lost under your child’s bed. In fact, get totes for storing toys, clothes, and other items right under your child’s bed to maximize space and prevent things that do not belong from getting shoved under their bed to possibly grow old and moldy.  

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Be understanding with your child when they struggle with organization. It takes time to learn and adjust to new skills and organization is a skill that is acquired through hard work and persistence. Try to avoid nagging or yelling but instead help guide and direct your child back in the right direction when their organization slips. 

Discover More Ways to Keep Your Home Organized

• 5 Household Chores You Should do Every Day
• 5 Homemaking Tips for Homeschool Moms
• 15 Essentials Moms Should Keep in the Car in Winter