I’m going to be doing a talk later this month on organising for children.
What are your biggest challenges in this area?
I’ll also be hosting a free teleseminar and I’ll share the 5 most common areas, so have at it – let loose with your frustrations, concerns, challenges or where you’d just like some ideas.
P.S. I thought I’d show you my minimalist children. When we get to them in the mornings, their beds have nothing but the sheet and maybe a book.
Connor started this trend and I see he’s taught his sister well 🙂
My absolute biggest issue with organizing as it relates to my kids is their Sports equipment. Sounds simple, but when you have multiple children playing football, soccer, indoor soccer, track and field,and basketball – its a bit much. We lack good storage so they dump their bags inside the front door….a big No No! I have yet to get organized enough to give them an alternative :/
Heather & Julia, thanks for your comments. I’ll address those for sure on the teleseminar.
Toys is a BIG area of concern from lots of people who have spoken to or emailed me.
Heather, I’ve got some ideas already on the sports organising – let me mull it over some more… 🙂
This is an area that I am really battling with. I am trying to organise my Tween sons room but am simply not getting it right. So far we have worked through cupboards and have re-organised clothing and shoes. We had 3 black bags (I kid you not) of stuff to give away afterwards. The big problem are his toys. He simply doesn’t want to part with them. I insisted that he at least throw away broken stuff. He can’t do it. I am trying to figure out a way to get rid of some of these toys. The other problem I have in his room are books. They are EVERYWHERE. Geez. I do need to put some shelving in his room but am not in a position to do so just yet.
Like Julia’s son, my daughter has trouble letting go of old toys. They’re all important and she loves each one. We’ve tried using a six month box. Stuff goes in for six months and then is evaluated later. My hope is that after six months I can sneak them out of the house. But I hate doing that. It seems dishonest, and I know I wouldn’t want my decision making power taken away like that. So I would love it if you could offer some suggestions on teaching our kids how to prioritize their toys and be able to choose only the special ones to keep. It’s to the point where I dread holidays and birthdays, knowing that she’s going to get so many gifts and I’ll have to find a place for them.
A second problem I have is hand-me-downs. I have a friend whose daughter is two sizes bigger than mine. She buys high quality clothes and when her child is done wearing them, she passes them along to us. But because they’re two sizes too big, I have to store them somewhere until they fit. I know that the organized thing to do is to only accept clothes that fit, but the practical, economical thing to do is to accept the wonderful gift of free clothes and figure out a good way to work them in. So, storage solutions and suggestions for rotating the wardrobe would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you SO much for addressing this. I’ve looked at lots and lots of organizing sites, trying to find some ideas for kids rooms. It’s like most organizers expect children to be magically organized and the issues only surface once we become adults. Or they have no idea how clothes, toys and books multiply when left alone in a child’s room. I’m looking forward to your discussion!