Is your child messy? One that loves decorating the house floor with her toys! Well then children love to be messy; the more the choices on the floor the more their desire to experiment and explore. However, as a parent when I walk into my daughter’s bedroom and scream in pain as the little Lego element pierces into the sole of my foot isn’t the best of experience I would say. As I hold my foot and balter around the room momentarily, my little one watches the show feeling amused and rolling on the floor with hysterical laughter.
So what can we do to make our little ones more organised when they don’t even know what the word means.
- The One In One Out Rule: This is the best way to avoid more clutter to clear. As my daughter often retorts, “Mama when there are too many things to tidy-up, I get confused.” So the best solution to avoid any confusion and encouraging the habit of clearing up when you are finished playing, the one in one out rule can do wonders.
- Limit The Keepsakes: The habit of hoarding and stuffing stuffs for ‘some-day’ use isn’t uncommon among us. I remember my mother saving stuff which was of limited use in the present under the pretext of being ‘more’ useful someday in the future. In the process she gathered more junk than useful stuff. Don’t let this happen with you and your child. ‘If the stuff fits in the box or the shelf then they can stay or else they need to go’; a rule that can make your house go clutter-free.
- Ask for their help: I remember asking my daughter one day to help me clearing up the mess she had done in her wardrobe. We took each and every piece of dress out of the closet and re-arranged it according to their genre. She helped me in sorting them out, folding them and putting them back in the designated places. I remember how enthusiastic she was in offering her little helping hand in achieving the ‘magnanimous’ task that lay ahead of us; I remember how elated and proud she was after the task-at-hand ended just right. Asking your kids for help in doing little jobs around the house helps them feel more responsible and empowered.
- Every Item Should Be Given A Home: As a kid I remember my dad always telling me to put things where they should be so that even if I close my eyes and walk right into that place I can find it, sitting right there waiting for me. Wise words from a wise man! And that is exactly what we need to do. When kids ask for something we should tell them where they will find them, and after they finish working or playing with them they should put it back in exactly the place where they picked it up from. In this way we are teaching our kids that every item or every toy in the house has a designated place and it should go back to their home after use.
Raising Smart Shoppers: Impulsive shopping is a bane rather than a boon. If you want to avoid gathering meaningless things in your house then it is very important to ask a very valuable question ‘Do I need this?’ A very important self-query that can be rightly passed on to the next generation.
Jyotishree Mohanty 