School’s out for summer and how can you keep your kids occupied and organized? Today’s questions were about your kiddos at home. You’d like their spaces organized but with their help. Some of the questions inquired about simply getting through the kids program to teaching life skills, and eventually launching them out into this big world. I have developed two programs from the lens of my experience as a parent, a teacher, and a professional organizer.
The Kids Program
The kids program is great to start around age 5 or seven. All kids are developmentally ready at different stages. After organizing my friends’ homes, while my kids were having a playdate with their children, I was asked to attempt one of the kids’ rooms too. I had two rules. I said “Ok I will IF, you are not in the room as we organized and all of the stuff your child no longer wants in this room, stays out.” My friend agreed and much to her surprise it stayed organized a long time. I have kids take ownership of their bedrooms and we call them mini apartments. You can use the kids program for your whole family and all your children can get organized.
I say if you don’t know where to start and your kids aren’t motivated, start with the clothes section. You can choose the videos relevant to your kids and have them watch it. Incentivize them to take action. They can take action understanding that when they clean out their closet, you will donate those clothes, and they can go buy new ones. Don’t tell them you already were going to buy them for back to school. (Tis’ the Back to School Blitz time.) I point out to the kids that parents only have so much money, so, have a respectful conversation to express the kind of clothes you want so money is not wasted. And when you do this cyclically with them, they are learning the rhythm for doing this as adults! And you can choose the pace at which you complete the modules. And hey mom, you could do your own spaces at the same time. Win-Win!
The Launch Program
You can start the Launch program when they are around 16 years old. You can start a database of sorts of why your family does X for headaches or whatever in the Launch Binder. When they get ready to spread their wings the idea is that binder has all the answers. We didn’t get a life manual but this kind of is one for them and specific to how their family does things. This binder has a combination of selected pages from the Financial Binder, The Medical Binder, and the Household Reference binder. And some paper information may come out of the family household binder and get transferred to their Launch Binder, like their car title. This program is a bridge between the Kids Program to The Paper Solution. One person asked about teaching life skills. You could focus on one skill per summer and they could document the things they need to know when you are not there to conveniently ask. It’s everything from how your family does things, what doctor they go to, how to look for a place to rent, to grocery shopping for one.
Warrior Mama Binder
Someone asked about keeping up with the Warrior Mama Binder during a tough season. I advised to keep collecting the papers so you have the information. Summer is a great time to updated the binder because you can stay up later, you can work on it as the kids sleep in, or you can take them somewhere like the pool and update while they play. Know your goals for your child and document accordingly. This is a great tool to help you advocate for your child.
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