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	Organizing With Kids

	by Joshua Zerkel

Are you TIRED of asking your kids to put away their toys, clothes, and school books? Teach your children to help out, without making it a CHORE! If “clean up your room!” is a popular refrain in your household, there are some simple steps you can take to get your kids on the organizing bandwagon.

GIVE THEM CONTROL

You already know your children are full of ideas, so allowing them to PARTICIPATEA in the organizing plan is a great first step. Instead of making decisions for them about where their toys should be stored or how to sort their clothes, let your little ones make the decision for THEMSELVES. Maybe they want their clothes organized by color instead of type, when you had planned on doing the reverse. Work with your kids to find out where they think things should go, and use those ideas to find appropriate homes for all of their stuff. Your kids will feel a lot more INVESTED in a system that they can help design, rather than one that is imposed on them.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

A common pitfall of people who organize for their children rather than with them is that they create COMPLICATED systems oriented toward adults. Keep in mind that for your kids, a simple solution is likely to make the most sense. Try to avoid too many complicated categories and hard-to-use gizmos. Instead, keep categories straightforward and AGE-APPROPRIATE, and make sure that any containers or specialized organizing tools, such as craft boxes, re-closable plastic bags, etc., can be safely and easily used by your child.

MAKE STORAGE ACCESSIBLE

Chances are, your kids can’t REACH as high as you, and can’t LIFT as much either. I’ve gone into a number of homes where well-meaning parents had storage bins full of toys that had been stacked nearly floor-to-ceiling. When I asked how easy it was for the kids to access the toys in the bottom bin, the parents usually say “not very.” If your kids can’t easily access their storage system, they won’t use it. When you’re ready to design your children’s storage system, ask yourself these three questions:

Would your kids be better suited with easy-to-slide DRAWERS instead of stackable bins?

Is everything at a HEIGHT that is accessible to your child?

Will they be able to put things AWAY without straining?

LABEL EVERYTHING

For kids (as well as for adults), a label on something makes it OFFICIAL. Once a drawer has a label that says “socks” and a storage container is labeled “dolls,” those become the official homes for those items. As long as everything has a clearly labeled HOME, the chances of items finding their way back to those homes become much greater.

USE COLOR

Finally, kids love color, so use it in their organizing systems! Color-coded storage areas, drawers, and other containers are a creative way of “labeling” FUNCTIONS of your kid’s storage system. Pick colors that are their favorites, and especially colors that have MEANING to them. For instance, pink can be where your little girl keeps her dolls while red might be perfect for all of their colorful art supplies. Find a system that works, and remember to get them involved in the process.

ORGANIZING CAN BE FUN

Spending time with your kids developing organizing ideas and solutions can be a fun and REWARDING family activity. Soon, you may find that your kids’ rooms practically clean themselves!

Joshua Zerkel, Productivity Strategist, is a Certified Professional Organizer and the founder of Custom Living Solutions, the San Francisco Bay Area’s premier productivity and organizing consulting firm. Josh is also the 2008-2010 President of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers.

Josh specializes in helping entrepreneurs and small businesses find easy ways to get control of their space, information, time, and technology so they can reduce stress and boost their productivity. Josh has been featured in various media, including CBS News, ABC News, the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner, Organize Magazine, Online Organizing, and many others, is a regular columnist on the Franklin Covey website, and co-hosts the “Thrive Solutions” radio show on Thrive in Balance.

Josh is also a popular organizing instructor in the San Francisco business community, speaking to small and large companies about the different techniques they can use to optimize efficiency and productivity in their work environment so they can serve more clients and make more money. Although he doesn’t consider himself freakishly organized, Josh does admit to spending some of his free time alphabetizing his comic books and fixing the tags on his MP3 collection.

For more of Josh’s practical (and sometimes pithy!) organizing tips, sign up for the Custom Living Solutions newsletter at www.customlivingsolutions.com or call 415-830-6345.

Connect with Josh on:

Facebook: http://companies.to/customlivingsolutions

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel

Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshuazerkel

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