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Your Child - Messy or Disorganized?

image By Professional Organizer Lea Schneider

You may not have thought about this...but clean and organized are two different subjects.

Is your child's room messy or disorganized?

As a professional organizer, I measure organization not by fancy containers or things all labeled and in a row. Rather, I measure organization by respeansibility. (That actually applies to adults and kids.)

Is your child ready for school on time in the mornings?

Do they get dressed and appear in the kitchen on time?

Set their own alarm clock?

Find and put on their own clothings.

Manage their bath or shower by themselves?

Is their homework done and turned in on time or are there lots of "I forgot" moments or last-minute hurried tasks?

When it is time to do something, do they get ready and have what they need? This could range from appearing in their uniform with the right sports equipment or having their scout project in hand or their dance gear packed and ready to go.

These things are a measure of your child's ability to be organized. Are they managing their day, their time and their space?

Notice I did not ask if their bed was made nor did I ask if their room looked like a tornado hit it. That is because there is a differenc between being messy and being disorganized. The child, who can manage the tasks listed above IS organized. They are just messy. The child who can't manage the tasks above is disorganized.

It is important to recognize the difference between the two. Each requires a different kind of help and different emphasis and instructions from you. Sure you can set expectations that things meet your standard of neat (and you should.) But if your child is truly disorganized, they don't have the skill level to manage the neatness without your help. You need to concentrate on teaching them how to be organized more so than just being neat.

The disorganized child will benefit from simple organizing solutions that you can teach to them. This ranges from having a permenant home for his or her backpack, of laying out their clothing each night before school, of having a checklist in the bathroom reminding them of each step they need to do in the morning to be ready.

When you figure out your child's needs- if they are messy or disorganized- then you are on the road to helping them get organized.