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Children's Papers:
Time to Turn Over a New Leaf

image By Professional Organizer Lea Schneider

Are you frustrated with the volume of paper being sent home from school and after-school activities?

It is time to turn over a new leaf. Instead of pushing the paper aside until it drifts to the floor or struggling all year with it, you are going to have a new plan.

Teach your children to file!

Impossible you say!

Not only is it possible but you must take the time to teach. No where in college, high school, middle school or elementary school are we trained to deal with the volume of material that life throws at us.

Teaching children to take care of their own paperwork means instilling a lifelong habit that will help them succeed in later grades and in the workforce.

Decide on a place to keep the files. For older children, you might want to get a two-drawer file cabinet for their room or in their closet. My son used his for his nightstand.

For younger children:

Purchase a file crate, sometimes called a milk crate. Just make sure that it has a rim on the inside to hold hanging file folders.

Buy hanging file folders, they come in bright colors and come with labels.

Remember that you are teaching them a long-range concept. The short term goal is that everything has its place - including papers!

Help them label a hanging file folder for each month of the school year.

Let them decorate the front of them for the season if they wish...adding a pumpkin for Halloween and so forth.

Let them place them in the file crate.

Each day, have them show you the papers they have brought home. After reviewing them, and perhaps choosing something special for display, ask the child to file the rest of the papers in the September folder. Continue this daily. The repetition helps them grow a life-long habit. At the end of the year, you can choose your favorites for their keepsake box.

An additional bonus, if the child has difficulty with any school work, you can easily take the crate to school and review the papers with the teacher to see if there is a pattern to the struggles or find ways to understand how to help your child.

For the older student:

Have them label the hanging file folder by subject.

Have them add folders for student activities, such as scouting or sports, so that those papers also have a home.

File papers daily into each subject.

Because the papers are filed by subject, they are easily accessed for a cumulative review for exam time.

At year end, students might enjoy a barbeque and enjoy toasting a few marshmallows over their algebra homework, after you have snuck out a few essays for your keepsakes.

The very oldest of students, soon to be heading away from home, need to learn how to handle financial records. Have them add folders for bank statements, pay stubs, cell phone bills, and receipts and so on to their box.

Next summer is a great time to empty the box and set it up for the coming year. Old materials can be sorted and the prized ones kept in a keepsake box or file drawer.

Parents will have to keep reminding students to "file away your papers." It is a lot easier, and a much better lesson, to do some reminding and set up a good habit than it is to do their papers for them until they leave home!