How To Get Your Kids To Organize Their Bedroom

I was not a perfect child by any stretch of the imagination. But one thing I don’t remember is my mother having to nag me to organize my room and get rid of clutter. Maybe I just have selective memory.

Now my brother on the other hand is a different story. He was very popular at school. He was into all kinds of sports and student government.  But at home he was, how do I put this nicely? He was messy. If there was anyone who needed to get rid of clutter it was him. He didn’t leave things around the house but his room was awful and he didn’t want to clean it.
My mother used to worry that he would be hurt on the football field and the medical people would have to carry him home on a stretcher to his room and she would be mortified that it was so awful.

As an organizing expert I see firsthand the problems between parents and children as they fight over keeping their rooms organized and they insist they have to get rid of clutter. Many times the kids can’t see any clutter in their rooms as we as adults do. 

It is ineffective to say to a child go and clean your room and get rid of clutter and organize it. Have you tried it? Has it worked? Probably not, not even with older children does that technique work. Here are 8 sensible ideas on how to get your kids to organize their bedroom.

1. Teach the child, no matter the age, what it means to have an organized, clutter free room. Walk around their bedroom with them and look in the drawers, in the closet and under the bed and talk to them about what you expect the room to look like when it is organized. Listen to them about what they think an organized room should look like. Come to an understanding so when you need to tell them to clean or organize their room they will know what it needs to look like when they are done.

For a young child it is never effective to say clean your room. They need specific instructions such as: put your dirty clothes in the hamper, put the books on the book shelf, hang up the clothes on the floor in your closet, and put your toys away. Children can’t remember more than one or two instructions at a time and many adults can’t either. So the child may need to be given one task to do and then come back to you for another task to do. For older children have them write it down and have them check it off after it is done.

2. Make it easy for a child to stay organized and get rid of clutter. Provide a waste paper basket in their room for trash. They will be responsible to empty it once a week or when it is full, whichever comes first.

3. For small children have plenty of child friendly containers to separate their toys into. Label the container with a picture or words to help them remember what toy goes where. Get their input as to which bin they want to use for which toy. When you get their opinions they are more likely to cooperate and have a feeling of ownership for things that are theirs. Also it is a great time to teach how to organize and get rid of clutter.

4. Have containers, drawers and closet rods at the child’s level so they can use them.

5. Don’t cram their closet with clothes they can’t wear. In their closet and drawers only keep clothes they can wear. Seasonal clothes should be removed and placed in bins that are labeled and put on top of their closet or in some other room. If you are saving their clothes for another child label the bin with the size of the clothes.

6. Teach children the joy of giving by giving them the opportunity to clean up toys they no longer play with and take them to a local shelter.

7. Put a bookcase in their room for books and teach them how to take care of books. You could keep one shelf free for small toys they use often.

8. Teach children to make their bed every day. When their bed is made their room looks neater and it will encourage them to get rid of clutter and keep their room neat and tidy.
Kids can be expected to keep their rooms free of clutter and adults can teach them and encourage them to do so by example and providing them the tools they need.