Organize Your Things (cont.)

• Make cleaning a family affair. Kids of all ages can help sort out what needs to get kept, thrown out, or given away. And even young kids can help with simple chores such as dusting or sweeping. Getting your kids involved will reduce the workload on you, give you quality time as a family, and allow you to serve as a role model. Your kids will learn that organization is helpful, and that everyone in the family needs to pitch in if the household is to run smoothly.

Organize Your Time

• Examine your priorities. If a chore or task is particularly unpleasant for you, it may be worth it to spend money to have someone else do it. For example, some parents find that it’s easier to order groceries through home-delivery services than to endure a shopping trip with cranky toddlers.
• Plan ahead to reduce frustration. Get your children in the habit of getting their school stuff ready before they go to bed—packing lunches, filling bookbags, and picking out clothes. Create a master family calendar to keep track of meetings, appointments, extracurricular activities, etc. This might be a paper calendar hung in the kitchen, or you might use an electronic service such as Google Calendar. Either way, the calendar won’t work if you don’t use it consistently.
• Help your children learn to manage their time. Starting at a young age, all children should have their own calendars. Your job is to serve as a facilitator, reminding and encouraging your child to plan her time. This entails writing down important dates (birthdays, tests, etc.), and checking the calendar frequently in order to plan ahead. For example, if your child has a paper to write, help him break it down into smaller tasks and set due dates for each one. Not only will you prevent last-minute panicking, you will be fostering the development of lifelong habits!

THE PARENTING CENTER LINKS

Would you like to learn more about this month’s topic? We recommend the following sites: 

• FlyLady provides advice and inspiration on combating clutter, once small step at a time.
• Myths about home organization
• Unclutterer provides tips and advice on home organization.  
• Help your child get organized
• More on helping children get organized
• Time management: You vs. the clock is aimed at kids in middle school, although the advice may also be helpful for kids who are slightly older or younger

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