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Stans Legacy - My Fathers Impact on his 13 Children I will always have a clear picture of his face etched in my mind. As clear as a bright spring day in Geelong, the city in south eastern Australia where may father (Stan) and mother (Elsie) raised myself and my twelve brothers and sisters. Our home ...
Taking a 2nd Look At Cloth Diapers If youre a new parent, youve probably heard your grandparents telling you how lucky you are and singing the praises of disposable diapers. Way back then, the only option was cloth diapers, which require a ton of laundry work. See, less than thirty ...
The 4 Deadly Mistakes of Wife Seduction When a guy gets turned down over and over again (during the seduction process) in his relationship with his wife (or girlfriend) he often attempts to make adjustments. You are about to learn the 4 deadly mistakes guys make when attempting to correct the ...
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Are your kids' rooms so messy that sorting things out seems just too daunting a task? If so, here are some strategies for you to bring some order back to your children's spaces.
First if all, do your kids actually need everything they own? Are you still hoarding clothes and shoes they have grown out of or toys that are now far to young for them to play with? Be ruthless - pass them onto someone else, dump them at the charity shop or throw them out. It is not use trying to tidy around things which have outgrown their usefulness.
If any of your kids’ rooms are particularly bad (drawers full of small pieces of rubbish, sweet wrappers, broken Lego, pens without tops etc, try the ‘mining’ technique. Take the draw (crate, box or bag) and tip everything out onto some large sheets of newspaper. Then ‘mine’ all the useful items and put them in a container. Everything that is left stays on the newspaper. This is then wrapped up and put straight into the bin.
Is there usually dirty washing in your kid’s rooms? Are they loath to use the wash bin to put their soiled clothing in? If so, why not have a different coloured laundry bin for each child, or put a logo of their favourite character or pastime on the front. This might encourage them to place their dirty clothes where they belong.
Attach pegs or hooks behind each child’s door. This is where they can hang their school uniform for the next day as I think that trying to get them to fold their uniforms neatly and place them in a drawer till the next day would be a triumph of hope over experience! This way, when they come home at night, when they change they can simply place all items on the hooks and forget about them till the next morning.
Now, one of the best organising solutions is smart, cheap and effective. Buy a number of colourful plastic stackable crates to house clutter. They can be colour-coded if desired e.g. Blue for books, Red for Lego and construction, Yellow for games etc. Not only this, but they can be used for shoes or seasonal clothing which is not required. If you are able to install some racking too these crates look very funky lined up against a wall and this way they don’t have to be stacked on top of one another.
Books look much neater if lined up in size order or colour coded. A mish mash of books just stuffed in a bookshelf any old how does not make for a tidy looking room. Likewise with videos, or CDs. Store them with all red, green, yellow coloured spines together. Not only does it look neater, but it also makes titles easier to find too.
Should the rooms get to such a state that drastic measures are needed, try a ‘2 minute pick up’ where you get the kids to pick up as much rubbish and put it back neatly as they can do in 2 minutes. This is an effective strategy, especially with younger kids, because it is so much fun! Let them off after 2 minutes if they have at least tried. You can do the rest as a favour.
If any of your children have a particularly small bedroom raise the bed on stilts. This way you will have all that extra room underneath. It doesn’t need a DIY genius to rig some leg. If you can afford the money, one of those high beds with cupboards / sofas / writing desk contraptions underneath might just be a solution to a too cluttered bedroom.
Small toys such as Barbies, Duplo bricks, etc can be stored in drawstring bags hung from hooks on the wall. These are very simple to make. Just an oblong piece of material, folded in half and sewn up the seam and across the bottom with a hem round the top through which a string can be threaded. The bag can be pulled tight shut with the string.
Finally, try to encourage good habits by letting your children help you with your own chores and always reward for a job well done. If your kids have at least tried to keep things tidy, you should let them know how you have noticed this with a reward and encouragement to do it again the next time.
About the Author
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mum of two, Gail Miller, is a UK artist and writer. View her vibrant, contemporary artwork at her website, Gails Art Gallery http://home.freeuk.net/gails-gallery ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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