Teaching Your Kids How to be Organized

I think it’s very beneficial to teach our children how to be organized. Things go a lot smoother when things are organized. I’ve learned that having an organized and tidy space helps keep your mind calm. I personally start feeling a bit anxious during times when my home gets messy. But I always feel better when items are put back in their designated place.

My first year of teaching, I had a team leader who was very organized. Her organizational skills intrigued me, so I observed what she did. She had binders and file folders to keep her papers in order. Bins and boxes were used to store supplies. Everything was labeled. After learning from her, I started implementing organization in my classroom. It felt so good to have things organized. I also applied that organization principle in my home. And of course after getting married and having kids, I’ve had to put more work into staying organized.

The challenge I had when teaching was that most children, unfortunately, had difficulty with keeping their area and materials in order. And it made me think of how much smoother classes would go if children learned organizational skills at home from their parents. There is so much academic content to focus on in the classroom, that it leaves very little time for teaching organization skills in the classroom. I really believe that if kids learn how to be organized at home it will transfer into them being organized with their materials at school. There are some schools that do grade kids on how well they organize their materials and space. And I think that receiving a grade in this area motivates those parents to work on organizational skills with their children. Even if your child is not graded in this area, teaching them how to be organized is extremely beneficial.

I taught my children starting at a young age how to keep their items organized. Are they perfect at it? No, but they are growing in this area each day with the guidance from my husband and me. Here are some strategies I use with my kids that you might by interested in trying. My children’s toys are organized into categories and placed in bins. Every bin is labeled. This way they know where everything is supposed to go without confusion. For example, we have a vehicles bin, dolls bin, kitchen play toys bin, Legos bin, trains bin, science experiments bin, writing/drawing materials bin, etc. I love clear plastic bins so we can easily see inside of them. You can put them on a shelf or just have stackable bins. You can also create your own labels. First, I used index cards and wrote on them with marker. Then I gradually traded them for typed labels which I easily made from Microsoft Word. After typing them I printed and laminated them, then taped them on the bins.

We also have a system for organizing their books. They place them on bookshelves and baskets. I did try the rainbow color system because I thought it was cute and that doing this would make it easier to put the books back. But it didn't last long- lol. So now they just place them in the basket or bookshelf and I straighten them up to my liking.

It doesn’t matter what system you choose, just find what’s best for your family. The good thing is that you can find an abundance of ideas online. I am a fan of Pinterest and have used many ideas from others who are very organized and creative.

The home is more peaceful when it’s clean and organized. Of course, there will be times when things get messy and out of control. But you just have to set aside time to put things back where they belong. I love the quote by Benjamin Franklin that says, “A place for everything, everything in its place.”

You and your family will feel better and be able to think more clearly when you have a consistent system of keeping your home tidy and organized. And yes, it takes a lot of hard work over and over again in order to maintain it. That’s just how it goes. I’ve trained my mind to accept that it is something that needs to be done every day and we just do it. I play some fun music to motivate myself and the kids and we get it done. And we feel so much better.

Life in general runs smoother when things are organized instead of cluttered. There is a Bible verse that relates to this from 1 Corinthians 14:40 (NIV) which says, “But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” I hope this encourages you to try some new organization ideas in your home and that you are inspired to teach your kids how to be organized. Teaching them organizational skills will set them up for success now and in the future.