Train up a child…

Being Organized Builds Confidence

Probably every teacher and parent has witnessed a child at some time or another being frustrated because something could not be found. From “My dog ate my homework” to “Someone took it”, one excuse after another has been heard. Some children, believe it or not, are born as natural organizers. They are the ones who become engineers, auditors, or some similar profession. Most children, however, are not born as good organizers and must be taught how to handle things in such a way as to be in control of situations.
What can parents do to help children be better organized? They can be sure that a place is provided for a child’s belongings. They can help children let go of things no longer useful, and they can require children to put things in their proper places.
A child should, ideally, have a private room. Realistically, we know that this is not always possible. In either case, a child can be given his/her own space even if a room must be shared. Those of us who grew up in the years of the Great Depression remember covering orange crates with homemade curtains to provide shelves for books or other items. We used boxes under beds for personal things. (We even used baling wire across the corner of a room to hang our clothes since we had no closet!) Sometimes we could find old furniture to refinish for desks or dressers. It may take resourcefulness, but there are ways to provide places to put our belongings. Now, there are all shapes and sizes of plastic shelves, boxes, etc. for almost any purpose. Parents and children can determine together what is needed and figure out ways to provide for that need.
It helps to go through belongings periodically to get rid of items no longer being used. Broken things should be repaired or disposed of by giving or throwing away. Many of us are guilty of hanging on to things thinking that “some day” we will need something. Chances are that “some day” may never come. We need to be realistic about the things we keep around.
Once we have gotten rid of unneeded things and a place has been made for needed items, children should be required to put their things in the proper places. It is easy to get in a hurry and leave things lying around, but a child can get in a habit of putting things away if there is consistency in requiring the child to do so. A habit of neatness will be formed that hopefully carries through to organizing smaller things like notebooks, textbooks, desks, etc.
It is sad to see the look of hopelessness on a child’s face in a classroom when a paper can’t be found and the teacher and class are waiting for it to be produced. The child feels terrible! A child who is organized and can produce an item on demand feels proud and confident and unafraid of coping.