Children's Rooms

I am amazed at the number of people who comment on how horribly messy their kids' room are kept.  They throw up their hands and talk like it's a rite of passage and there's nothing that can be done.  (Sort of the attitude of disciplining kids nowadays...but that's for another blog sometime...)

Let me get on my soapbox for a moment.   If the child has less, there is less to keep organized.  A couple suggestions on this one follow. 

• For little preschoolers, box up toys into separate boxes and only bring out a certain amount at a time.  The rest are stored out-of-reach for a month.  After a month, bring out the stored box or boxes and pack up the current month's toys.  The kids rarely miss the stored stuff, but are excited and actually play with it when it comes back.
• Consider less for birthdays, Christmas.  Typically, children are excited at gift one.  Gift two might draw as much interest.  Beyond that very far, selfishness and grumpy attitudes can surface.  They often then go outside and play with sticks or play with the box!   I used to ask parents not to bring gifts to my kids' birthday parties in the early years.  (They only had two or three before age ten.)  It made it easier on the guests, my kids didn't get a lot of extra stuff they didn't appreciate, and it just made it easy for all the kids to have fun.  Of course, one mom asked me if gift-giving was against my religion.  
• Even in teen rooms, there is so much stuff, it often doesn't fit!  We used to go through periodically and box up items that didn't have daily use, and gave away used clothing, books, old stuffed animals, etc.  The less they have to find places for, the easier it is to stay neat. 

So, in conclusion for this lengthy edition, don't give in when society says kids' rooms will always be a mess.  Take some action to train your kids.  Same with teens.  You ARE the parent, it IS your home, and you can help train your teen to declutter and keep a neat room.  His/her spouse someday will thank you.