If there is one thing we all know, it is the fact that almost all children are messy. Having a child who organizes themselves is an absolute boon and nearly impossible. It is always teamwork and parental guidance that guides a child towards understanding this concept.
While there are several ways to help your child understand the importance of being self-organized, one of the best and fun ways to do this is through their closets. Simple tasks through closet and clothing arrangement can teach your child how to make not only their cupboards organized but also themselves.
Why teach my child self-organization through clothes and closets?
It might come as a surprise to you, but clothes are a significant factor in influencing your child and bringing about change. If used correctly, you can condition your child into learning different attributes and even help bring about positive psychological changes.
How to teach kids to be organized:
It is said that children use color as a form of expression, and when used correctly, fashion can affect your kid’s personality and help develop it. What better way to help give your child access to colors and style than through clothes? Through the baby clothes that you choose for your child, you can help influence how the world thinks of them and influence how your child feels about themselves.
When your child associates their clothes with feeling good, they would want to take care of it; this is where the virtue of self-organization will kick in and within no time will become a part of daily routine. It is all a chain reaction factor that falls perfectly well when executed the right way.
Where do I begin?
Do not worry; we are here to give you a step-by-step breakdown of ways you can help your child enjoy the process while learning the main self-organization factor. But before that, here is what you can do to help begin the process:
1. Let your child explore
Usually, parents end up selecting whatever they look at or think is cute at stores without thinking much about the child’s opinion, which is quite normal. However, instead of this, you can use this as a chance to help your child discover their style. Observe what kind of colors they show interest in and what patterns excite them the most.
It will not only act as a bonding exercise between you and your baby, but it will allow your child to discover what style works for them. It is usually quite later on in their life that children try to figure out what works for them and what does not. By then, most of their decision-making is influenced by the cartoons they have watched and what their parents and friends think.
2. Don’t let color decide.
There used to be a time when pink identified with a baby girl and blue identified with a baby boy. That no longer is the case.
According to fashionispsychology.com, “A study, conducted by a baby subscription box service ‘Box Upon a Time,’ said that 47% of parents liked dressing their boys in pink clothing and 82 percent liked to put their girls in blue. It is a growing trend, followed by child stars like North West and Shiloh Jodie-Pitt.”
So, do not be surprised if your baby girl gives more inclination to a blue suit or your baby boy insists on a pink onesie.
3. Look out for color specifics to understand your child.
Another exciting way to find out more about your baby’s personality is to observe what kind of colors fascinate them. Let us consider a quick example.
According to educarechildcenter.com, toddlers who love red show an inclination towards being strong-willed. They want what they want and when they want it.
Similarly, toddlers who love to cuddle and are extra affectionate look towards the color green as a favorite. They often look for security and are fiercely loyal.
These are just a few examples. Keeping a check on these factors will allow you to help you create the perfect plan of action on what emotional way to take to help your child understand this well.
How do I go about teaching my child closet organizing?
When it comes to teaching your child anything, the only practical way is that of self-example. Leading the initial steps and showing them how you incorporate this into your life, too, is the biggest key.
If your child does not see you following your instructions, they will believe that this is not very important. Children mimic what they see, and for them, you are the most influential person in their lives. Here is how you can begin:
1. Make it fun!
To make anything work with kids, fun must be involved. Try to create a colorful to-do list on how to go about their closets and what all baby clothes are a must. Using bright images and stickers will spark curiosity and will eliminate the boring factor from this.
You can use this picture as a template and go about creating your own customized closet list. Some other factors you can add to your child’s closet are fun colored hangers, organizer boxes, cartoon stickers, etc.
2. Clean out and start from scratch!
First and foremost, begin by sitting with your child and removing everything from their closets. You can also take this time to teach your child the art of decluttering by discussing what they could keep and remove. Your colorful template of what is required in the closet will come in handy during this step!
3. Look at it from your child’s point of view.
Since this will be a new activity for your child, you need to ensure that nothing causes them to feel discouraged or to make them feel like this is hard. Your goal is to make this as simple as possible for your child to make them want to do more!
Simple examples of this are:
- The closet must be a simple one to open and close.
- Ensure items are within reach for your child.
- Use fun or color-coordinated hangers that your child can use easily.
- Use organizer boxes that are easy to open and close.
- Stick a do list or a required list of items or instructions inside or outside the closet.
These things are simple from an adult perspective, but even a small factor might cause them to feel like this task is difficult for a child. You want your child to feel like this is fun to do, thereby indirectly conditioning your child to learn the importance of self-organizing.
4. What begins must end.
Teaching your child that every action of theirs must result in a fixed ending will help. Explain to your child that if they choose to wear new clothes, that will mean that their old ones would need to go into the used clothes bin. If they get freshly pressed clothes, they must place them in their closets in the right way.
Opening an organizer box must finally result in a neatly packed and closed box back in the closet once done. It is highly beneficial, and you will slowly watch the results unfold after a couple of tries.
Using a reward system for this will give an additional helping hand in the process. Award your child with things such as their favorite snack or extra playtime, and they will want to continue cultivating the habit.
5. Teach size and color arranging.
It is another excellent way to teach organization to your child. There will always be differences in the size of clothes. Skirts vs. Pants, shorts vs. pants, Onesie vs. a night suit, a frock vs. a t-shirt.
Ask your child first to arrange to place items of similar sizes together. After this, ask them to sort out colors. This way, they will not get overwhelmed with two instructions simultaneously and learn how to focus one education at a time.
Always keep in check.
Of course, you need to allow your child to be decisive and take the lead, but kids can be pretty clever to keep things from you and sometimes not keep up to what they are supposed to do. It is where your involvement comes into the picture.
You definitely must take the time to praise them when they genuinely try, but you must keep an eye out and watch for any signs of slacking from their end. If such a thing happens, it is a must for you to let them know that you have observed this.
It means you need to do regular check-ups in their closets to see if they are following their to-do lists. When a child knows that their parents are very much involved and keeps checks, it will add the little nudge that our babies need from time to time!
Inculcating ANY habit takes time. It will not happen miraculously overnight, but it is very much possible by staying involved and consistent.
Using this process of a closet organization may seem like one way, but it is an important one because we begin our day with a fresh pair of clothes and end our day with a comfortable pair of clothes.
Closets and clothes are something that we compel to touch every single day. So why not use this daily example and help condition our child to understand the importance of being organized. You must be patient and give your child the time they need to get this right.
By doing so within a matter of a few months, your child will themselves take the lead, and you can proudly watch them as they go about being their little independent selves!
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