Helping Your Child Get Organized

Tips to help your child build the skills to keep her life running smoothly.  

• Decide what is important.   Your child may not need to have every aspect of her life organized, so figure out together what activities or times cause the most stress and make sure that routines are established for those. Does the morning routine always cause stress?   Plan this out carefully. Is soccer practice driving everyone crazy?   Develop a plan for when the gym bag gets packed.

• Stick to the routine .   Once you make plans, be sure that you both follow them. While there will be times when flexibility is needed, following the routine will help your child understand how a routine keeps her life running smoothly. Make this connection for her by saying things like, “Wow, we got to the bus with no problems today, your morning checklist really worked!”

• Reinforce your child's successes.  Acknowledge the times when she is able to stay organized, and help problem solve when the routine doesn't work.  

• Stay involved.   Once your child gets a handle on her routine, she will still need your help and support.   Make sure to check in with her and ask how the routine is working. This will also make it easier for you to help her brainstorm problems and solutions in her planning as they arise.