Does this look like a room in your house? Chances are if you have kids, there is at least one bedroom that looks like this. I can’t count how many times I have seen on Facebook posts about messy kids’ rooms. From the frantic mom who is tired of yelling about cleaning it to the mom who cleans it and tosses (actually hides) everything that was on the floor. I mean we have all been there, right? I actually used to close the door to Belinda’s room so I didn’t have to see it as I walked down the hall.
Yup, I was one of those moms that didn’t clean their child’s room. Dirty clothes not in the hamper, they didn’t get washed. Friends stop by and room a mess – No, you can’t hang out in the living room. It took a little while but it eventually worked – she at least kept her room neat.
Great advice from Organized Home for younger children: “Get down to your child’s eye level to help him or her get organized. Look at your child’s space, storage, furniture and possessions from his or her vantage point. The view may surprise you!”
WOW! Did that hit home… I wish someone had told me that when Belinda was younger. Sticky dresser drawers are hard for small hands to manage. Folding closet doors pinch fingers and jump their rails when pushed from the bottom. Closet hanging rods are out of reach. Traditional toy boxes house a tangled jumble of mixed and scattered toy parts.
Here are some solutions:
Remove closet doors entirely. I was so ahead of my time and I didn’t even know it.
Resist the urge to wade into the mess alone, garbage bags flying with gritted teeth and threats of “You will keep this room clean!”. I’m sure you know that doesn’t work and is more stress than a busy mom needs, right? As tough as it may be to bite the bullet, play the role of organizational consultant for your child. Find out what’s working, what’s not, what’s important to them, and what is the problem. A lot of times they will have the solution, they just don’t know how to tell you. This one will take some time, but it will be so worth it in the long run.
Lower clothing rods and invest in child-sized hangers. We put double rods in Belinda’s closet which allowed the things she didn’t need all of the time to be hung out of the way.
Kids are short so why not organize from the bottom to the top or the room. Most used toys and belongings on lower shelves, or in lower drawers. Higher levels are for less-used possessions or those “display” items that they can’t play with. Don’t roll your eyes, we know that we have all put those kinds of things in our kid’s room.
Use floor-level open containers to hold toys, store socks and underwear. We had lots of these in the closet. The cubes could be turned around so when company came, they didn’t see what was in the cubes.
As adults, we rotate our clothes closet, right? Why not do the same with our kid’s room? Show them how to do it at an early age. What clothes are out-of-season or have they outgrown? Toys that they have outgrown – donate or share with them with other children who are less fortunate. Toys they don’t play with but are willing to part with, box up and put away for a little while. If they don’t ask for them again, then donate them.
To make things easier to maintain so that their room is clean and they can put things away – label, label, label
Let’s make life easier for us as busy women by making things work for our kids. Wouldn’t this be a more welcome site?
What is your best tip for keeping your kids room clean? Share it with us, we can always use a new way of doing things.
Have a ThirtyOne-deful day!
Hope Wissel 