Your kids’ room should be a place where they can relax and rest but they also serve as playrooms and workspaces. This multifunctional use can cause their rooms to quickly spiral out of control. Lots of parents struggle with keeping their kids’ spaces organized and often complain about how messy their rooms are. However, it’s totally possible to organize their room and keep it clean! Before you try organizing your kids’ spaces, try some of these strategies to get their rooms into tip-top shape and keep them that way.
Involve your kids from the start
The first step to organizing your kids’ spaces is getting them involved in the process from the beginning. Working with them on clearing and organizing their rooms gives them a sense of ownership that will encourage them to keep things neat. Before starting, have them give you a tour of their room, showing you what’s there. This will clue you into which items are important to them.
Listen to your kids as they talk about their things and focus on what they love instead of what you’re getting rid of. Do they mention how often they played or used an item? They may not tell you that they’re okay with getting rid of it but they may mention they don’t play with a toy often. Use that as a clue that it’s something that could potentially be removed.
Designate a ‘home’ for everything
This is a good tip for every room in the house! Designate a home for every item in your child’s room. This will help kids understand where they need to put their things after they’re done using them. This is especially helpful for younger kids as they learn how to put away their things.
Sort everything in their room
Start by removing anything that belongs in another room and trash, including broken items. Once done, continue by sorting what’s left, creating multiple piles (or use boxes) for items they will keep, donate/give away, or store. Have kids go through their items and decide which box it should be placed in. You may be surprised by how much they’re willing to give away! This part can be broken down into several sessions to keep kids interested and not overwhelmed.
For anything they’ll keep, group like items together, making it easier to find them when needed and for kids to put things away when they’re done.
Make organizing a daily habit
Once you finish doing the heavy lifting of organizing, don’t let those results go to waste. Encourage children to put away items after they’re done using them before pulling out something else. If that doesn’t work, incorporate a short cleaning session into their daily routine at the end of the day. Smaller cleaning sessions are easier to manage than one large session.
Organizing your kids’ spaces doesn’t have to be complicated! Team up with your kids to create a calm, clean, and clutter-free room they can enjoy.