It’s important to instill the values of hard work and fairness in your children. As they gain responsibility and perform chores at home, they learn it’s important for everyone to pitch in and do his or her fair share to take the burden off one person.  If you live here, you clean. Even my four- and five-year-old boys have chores. I went to the grocery store and bought a big poster board. In the left hand column, I listed a due date for chores. (Each chore may actually be completed any day during the week, but it must be done by Saturday.) Across the top row, I listed the chores. Each child has his or her own chores posted. When one gets completed, the boys put a sticker on the corresponding column (Meagan uses checkmarks; she’s much too cool for stickers). The last column is for … [Read more...]

Organizing Children's Keepsakes One of the common complaints I hear from parents is about all the stuff that comes home from school.  Where do you put all those great art projects, mementos, and clay handprints you just have to keep? Create a treasure box for each child. When each of my children was born, I wanted to save all the little things from the hospital: the nametags on their cribs, the bracelets from their wrists, their “going home” outfits, and all those things. Add to that their first pair of shoes, their favorite (now cast-away) blanket or stuffed animal, their first lost tooth—what a bunch of stuff! So I got three of those sturdy plastic bins with a lid and designated one for each child. I keep each treasure box on the shelves in their closets and add to them as … [Read more...]

My older child, Meagan, just entered 6th grade (middle school in our district), which involves moving from class to class.  We bought the requisite list of supplies, including the exact type of binder the teachers wanted to organize school papers.  I was unable to find the brand listed in the stores, so I ordered it from the Internet.  I thought, “Wow! This is going to be a fabulous binder.  I can’t wait to see what the fuss is all about.”  When I received the binder, I was confused.  It had no sections, no pockets, no tabs, no dividers, nothing.  I wondered “How in the world is she going to keep the papers separate for the six different classes she’s taking?”  I tried to explain to her the binder wasn’t going to work, but she was insistent on using … [Read more...]

Children have a difficult time conceptualizing proper systems and are bewildered by what tools to use to make their lives easier.  However, if given the proper tools, children are great at using the systems you establish for them.  Here are some tools and ideas you could put into place to help your children organize their environments and feel in control of their surroundings: Make the playroom easy to play in. Now that you’ve pared down the toys you keep, design a plan for these toys to actually get played with. If your kids can’t see a toy, they don’t think to look for it, and will soon forget it exists (and you’ll probably discover forgotten treasures in the sorting process). Take advantage of any available vertical wall space in a dedicated playroom or on one wall of a … [Read more...]

Handling transitions My three children started school and have experienced many "firsts" over the last few weeks: new schools, supplies, teachers, classes, friends, clothes, and schedules. This is a universal time of change for all parents of school-age children. And though much has suddenly changed in our children’s lives, much has stayed the same in some: disorganized bedrooms, poor time management, lack of discipline, and stress. As parents, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of settling our children into the new school year and making sure they’re comfortable that we forget about the ongoing struggles our children endure the rest of the year. According to John Stamm, Ph.D., and Bill Stockton (Psych Savvy: Children and Organizational Skills), "School … [Read more...]