With activities to get to and from, school drop offs, preparing family meals, homework, let alone having a minute to sit down and take a break, keeping organised can often be the least of our worries! Keeping things organised assists with being able to locate items easily, reduces frustrations for your child, reduces the time they spend searching for things, and frees up your time as a parent/caregiver as your child continues to increase their independence in doing their everyday things. Krystle Prenter, Occupational Therapist with Guide Dogs Victoria, shares her tips for keeping organised.
Tip 1: Keep frequently visited areas organised
Wishing the school morning rush could seem a little less chaotic? Try keeping frequently used areas the same. This can include the pantry, clothing drawers and cupboards, bathroom cabinets and school bags! Although this can be challenging in an ever-changing environment with siblings and other people coming and going, consider how organisation can be utilised even just in areas you or your child needs to access often.
Tip 2: Shout it from the rooftops
Educating everyone in the family about organisation is important to help them understand the impact that it can have on their family member on their journey to independence. It can also be useful to educate other family and friends that pop by, to assist your child not only in their own home, but also in helping them think about when your child comes to visit in their house.
Tip 3: Sort out that pesky spice drawer
Pantry organisation can be invaluable for your independent child. Try placing all your herbs and spices together in a small container, keep oils and sauces together in a separate container, or allocate a particular area of the pantry so your child can grab their afternoon snack themselves. Handy hint – Keeping similar items in organised containers also means that the whole container can be taken out of the pantry and over to a window, or under a light, to make things easier to see.
Tip 4: Level up your backpack packing skill
School bags can quickly become like Mary Poppins’ handbag; a never end source of amazement. Instead keep the compartments specific to a type of equipment. You could keep pencil cases always in the front zip pocket, communication books always in the left pocket, and wallets and phones always in the inner small pocket.
Tip 5: Get runway ready by organising those clothes
To keep everything easy to find, you could split your clothes into all their different types. School uniforms could always be kept to the left side of the wardrobe, skirts kept together, similar coloured items kept together, and dividers in drawers between socks or underwear. Hint – this is particularly useful when there are multiple people putting away the clothes
Tip 6: All MasterChef’s should keep a tidy kitchen
Cooking made easy? Why not start by preparing your area in a way that helps your child find the commonly used things when they help out in the kitchen. Try keeping utensils in the same location and with drawer dividers or keep commonly used items in easy to reach places. Hint – it can be very hard to keep a utensil drawer organised, so consider having a counter on the item that your child commonly uses i.e. spatula, peeler, tongs.
We hope some of these tips will help keep your home organised! Keeping things organised will mean items can be easily located, reduce frustrations for your child, reduce the time they spend searching for things and frees your time up as a parent/caregiver as your child continues to increase their independence in doing everyday things. Start small and figure out what works best for you and your family. Happy organising!
This article has been adapted and reproduced from Get About – The CMS Newsletter from Guide Dogs Victoria.