Can Kids Really Organise Themselves?

At what age would you expect your child to make their bed? How about pack their school bag, make their lunch, wash their own clothes or get themselves to and from school or sports training? Can kids really organise themselves?

A lot of how you feel about these answers will depend on the type of parent you are and that’s fine. Each family has their own ways of operating and I definitely respect that. But I wouldn’t be good at what I do if I didn’t challenge your thinking”¦just a little bit!

Let’s take this extremely common scenario and break it down a little. The times and tasks may differ a little but you’ll get the gist!

It’s 7am on the first day back at school after holidays. Brekky is in full swing, lunches are being made, uniforms and packed bags are a work in progress. Your children are running late as they rush around looking for everything they need, your voice is getting louder and you can feel your blood pressure starting to rise. Before you know it it’s 7.40am (when you need to leave at 7.30) and you’re flitting from child to child to get them fully packed and out the door.

Sound familiar?

What if it looked like this?

It’s 7am on the first day back at school after holidays. The children have all come to the kitchen and served themselves cereal (because it’s a much quicker breakfast than toast) and are sitting down eating. Lunches were made last night by the children or much earlier this morning by Mum/Dad. After breakfast, the children grab their lunchboxes, pop them in their school bag, and head to their bedrooms to get dressed, brush teeth and make beds. This gives Mum/Dad time to get dressed ready for everyone to leave at 7.30am.

Which scenario would you prefer?

The difference I see between these two scenarios is this there are expectations on the children to do things to help. What’s been asked of them is not difficult and is definitely age-appropriate but the impact on the running of the household and the adults who live with them is HUGE.

You see, my theory is this: If you want your children to grow up and move out, you must teach them to be organised.

It’s not rocket science. But being organised takes a few skills and just a smidge of effort from Mum or Dad to make it happen (ok, a lot of effort but it’s well worth it in the long run!).

In our household, Mr 6 has two sets of jobs that he does to help keep our home organised:

1. Jobs he has to do to help our house run smoothly — make his bed, get dressed for school, pack and unpack his school bag, put his dirty clothes in the washing basket, that sort of thing.

                                         wotv4women.com

2. Jobs he can do for pocket money — unpack the dishwasher, take the recycling and newspapers to the bin.

If we have to ask Mr 6 to do his ‘pocket money’ jobs, he gets less money than if he remembers them himself. Some weeks, he only does the jobs he has to do but once his spending money goes down, he’s onto doing the ‘pocket money’ jobs before you can say “pass me a dirty dish”!

Our ultimate goal? To get Mr 6 to manage his space and time by recognising there are many tasks you need to do in a day.

Running late and being disorganised (in our household) is not an option.

Poor kid! He’s got no hope with a professional organiser for a Mum! ☺

Until next time, happy organising!

Helen Butler is the Director of Clutter Rescue (www.clutterrescue.com.au) and an Accredited Expert with the Australasian Association of Professional Organisers. Helen works with busy Mums to bring calm and clarity to their space and time.