Organizing My Child's Room
What are the special challenges of organizing a child's room?
The biggest challenge of organizing a child's room is remembering that it is for a child, and children are smaller than adults. It is keeping things low and keeping it at a certain level so that kids can have access to the things that they need to have access to and they are not having to climb up on things or they can't see things.It is a tough challenge because there's really a limited amount of space down there, whether it is on the floor or within the first two or three feet. That's always a big challenge, too, with children's closets because children more and more like to dress themselves, and we want to make everything reallyeasily accessible to them.So, when I am organizing children's rooms I tend to try to utilize the floor space as much as I can. I use baskets and fun containers that I can put things in there for them so that they can reach in and grab them, but they are also easy they can put things back They are not complicated, hard to open, dangerous. You don't want things that have parts that come off. But, really, that's the challenge is to keep it at a height that the kids can work with.
How can I develop appropriate organizational systems for my child?
What's great about having organizational systems in your children's rooms is that it's also not only does it keep everything organized but also teaches your kids how to be organized. Organizational systems teaches them to have systems in their life and places where everything belongs. At the same time I think you want these systems to be flexible because you want them to grow with your kids, you don't want them to be so rigid because you want to give your kids some space and to be their own individual. So It's really good to stick to some basics and know that these basics can grow with them. An example for organizational systems, you know, I use shelves spaces with baskets on them. Now what we put in these baskets can change every 6 months. For one period of time, it may be things like blocks and cranes and Play-Doh and things like that, and in 6 months it could be, cars and trucks and dolls and whatever. So it's just working more with the idea that things that are loose would go into baskets, things that you wear go in the closet. It's really like, you know, working with teaching kids certain concepts, and things that they shouldn't be reaching are going to go higher up and then, growing these systems with them. That Is What's so great about having organizational systems.
How can I organize my child's room to accommodate different purposes?
Well, kids' rooms are different because so many things go on in a kid's room. Kids do homework in their room usually, they play in the room, they sleep in the room, they have friends over in the room. There's a lot of things that go on in a kid's room. So, it's really nice if you can create different spaces for these things. A lot of times kids' rooms will have built-in units. I always like having a desk space in that built-in unit and sort of putting all their desk items, sometimes their art items, in that area. Having a play station, basically, or an activity station where they can have the toys that they would be building things with and creating things with. That's also a good thing to have. And I've also done things before where we've literally taken out 2 closets and done a built-in and created low activity areas with pull out drawers where you keep all the crafts materials, things like that. So, when you're working with a kid's room, it's really important to really like visualize all the things that a kid is going to do in that space and try to create a space that really works for them. So you have to keep that in mind. You're not just thinking, okay, I'm going to sit in this room and watch TV because that's not really what kids just do in rooms anymore. You also want to create a reading area. What's fun is having big bean bag chairs that you can also plop down in and your child can and read stories. And, when you're not in there, they can have fun. They can just lie down on them and read a book or do something like that.
How can I organize my child's toys so he or she can access them easily?
Well, toys are tricky because they have so many parts to them a lot of times. I like to organize them one of two ways. I like to keep a whole toy together, so I'll get a container and put everything that belongs to a particular item all together. Or, sometimes you want to do things in groups, like blocks. Get a big container and put all the blocks together. Get a big container and put all the dress up clothes together. Things like that. And kids can access them, and again, they can put them back when they're done with them. It will make it easy both ways.
How can I organize my child's clothes so that he or she can access them easily?
Kid's clothes are the hardest thing about a kid's closet because of the height issue, and having them be at a level that kids can really reach them. I generally get little baskets for their shoes, put all the flip flops together, and all the tennis shoes together so that if there isn't space for actual shelves that they can reach and grab them. A lot of times we organize clothes in outfits so that they're hanging all together and it makes it easier for kids to put an entire outfit on, or we try to do play clothes at a lower level where kids can reach them and we do the fancier, the things that your parents may want you to wear, higher up because generally then your parents are probably going to be there helping you get dressed or reaching those clothes for you when you need to access them. We try to do like all their cosy, comfy stuff on the bottom so that they can get to them.
How can I organize my child's keepsakes?
Children's keepsakes are always a little hard to organize because there's so much to keep. I come across parents who a lot of times want to keep everything - every adorable outfit their children wore. It's all just amazing, but it gets to be a lot of stuff. I try to recommend a couple of things. Get yourself a bin. If you really want to keep things from every year of your child's life, then get a size bin that you feel would be appropriate for that, and just put things in there. You're going to store those things, label the outside of the bin. Tomorrow you're one through two, and store that up in your attic, your storage space, whatever you have, because you're not going to really access that. Make sure that you're storing it properly. Make sure you're storing it with some cedar balls, or some moth balls, and make sure that everything has been laundered before you put it in there so that you don't have any food stains or anything that's going to mold or mildew or have anything like that happen to it. If it's artwork, get flat containers that you can put it in. Label everything. Try to keep an inventory of what you have up there that you're storing, so that you know that if you did want to go back and try to find the tooth that fell out, you can do that. You can do that for every year, or you can have one bin for the first five years. It really depends on how much you want to hold onto. Another great thing, if you have time, is to scrapbook. It's huge right now, scrapbooking. There are people doing it all over and it's become really amazing. There are so many things out there that you can buy. It's also great if you can scrapbook certain things, then you also have mementos in there in a book form and it's just fantastic. You can scrapbook everything from fabric pieces from favorite items of clothing, to hair, to photographs.
What kinds of storage containers or tools are best for children?
You want to get a storage container, first of all, that, you know, doesn't have any piece they're going to be able to swallow or that are going to break off. I would prefer also that you're not getting a storage container that they can lock themselves into for any reason. You really want to be safe with that. You can certainly get more open bins and baskets, which are really great for kids. They're made of softer materials. There are lots of fabric baskets you can buy or very soft woven baskets. There are also some really amazing brightly-colored plastic-woven baskets you can buy that are fun and functional, and you can wipe them if anything spills. So you really don't want to be spending a ton of money on something that your kids are going to spill something on and stain and you're going to think, like, oh my god. You want them to be functional and decorative and fun and safe. So that's what you're really looking for.
How can I help my child develop good organizational skills?
Good organizational skills start at a really early age, and the best way to start them is, for example, at the end of every night, part of your evening ritual can be "ok, now lets clean up the room. Lets put the toys away. These pieces go in this basket, the books go here on the shelf." So it's ok, your kids can do whatever they're going to do during the day, and they can be free to take out whatever they want to take out. They just need to learn that at the end of the day, it's a good habit to have to put things back where they belong. And I think that that's a good way to start it all - to not be so rigid and not feel like it is a kids room after all. So if something spills, if something breaks, if it's just not working, you can find another solution - you can clean it up, it's not the end of the world. We want kids to be organized, we don't want them to get all obsessed about it. But I think its a good habit to have kids getting into.