Have you ever finished cleaning the house only to walk into your child’s room and find it a complete disaster area? It is an age old battle between parents and kids. And it is not that your kids like their bedroom to be dirty anymore than you do. They just lack the know-how and the energy to change it. Here are a few simple changes that will help keep your kids tidier.
The main cause of a messy bedroom is an inefficient furniture layout. For example, placing a dresser or hamper across the room from the closet will inevitable cause clothes to be strewn across the floor. If you place their dresser and/or hamper next to or even in the closet, you will keep all of their clothes confined to one area. If you have older more fashion-conscious kids, you may want to place a full-length mirror in the clothing area as well. This will prevent them from checking out an outfit in the mirror, deciding they don’t like it and tossing it on the bed. Another furniture combination that works for most kids is placing a bookcase near the bed. Many children like to read before bedtime. They will be more apt to put a book away when they are finished if they don’t have to walk across the room to do it. The general rule of thumb is to group common interests together. There is no universal system, since people do things differently. If your kids like to play with Play-Doh on their train table, store the Play-Doh near the train table.
As important as how you group it is where you group it. Keep things that your child uses often within arm’s reach. Toys that your child uses only once in a while, can be put in the closet or on higher shelves. Other things that can be stored out of reach are keepsakes, souvenirs, decorations and stuffed animals. Corner nets are geat at containing stuffer animals.
Another pitfall in many bedrooms is a lack of storage. If it doesn’t have a home, how can they put it away? Children like to succeed. If they can easily identify where things belong, they will put them there. If they can’t figure it out they will usually just shove it under the bed or toss it in the closet. You need to set them up for success. If you’re short on space create storage in places you haven’t yet considered.
- Go vertical. Use the higher part of the wall for a shelf that wraps around the room. This a great place to store thing you don’t want the kids touch like decorations or keepsakes.
- Also, consider a loft bed for older children. When you raise their bed closer to the ceiling, you open up a vast amount of space for storage or play underneath it.
- Mount hooks, racks, shelves and pockets in otherwise empty spaces like the backs of doors and inside closets. Another great empty space for storage is under the bed. Use wide, flat storage bins to keep things contained. A huge bonus to under-the-bed storage is that is very accessible to your child. If your storage bins have small wheel on the bottom, it make it even easier for them. Trundle drawers are a good option. This is a great place to store toys that your toddler enjoys playing with daily like train sets, blocks, puzzles or board games.
- Hang a rod along the wall where you can hang odds and ends like umbrellas. You can also buy hanging baskets to hook onto it. Check out Ikea for some great hanging storage options.
Implementing these changes won’t guarantee that your kids will clean up after themselves, but it will increase the likelihood of it. And if nothing else, it will make it easier for you to clean up after them. That’s worth something, right?
(Photos By: LindaSlund, : www.mundos-kids.com and ikea)
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