Tips for good bedroom organisation for kid?
Hi everyone
My Son and I both have ADHD and one of our biggest problems right now is...
HIS BEDROOM!!!
He is shocking with it, and to be honest, I am worse :( There is stuff EVERYWHERE and even the stuff that is in there to help organise it (bunch of Ikea boxes, etc), they are just as disorganised. He has too many toys, not much storage areas, and a hopeless Mum (me) who has no idea what to do!!
I know we need to do a major tidy, but I want to know if anyone has any ideas as to how to set up his room to be an ADHD friendly one. That is, I figure there must be a difference between a room structure that works for non-ADHD kids and one that works better for ADHD kids. Like, less toys? How do I structure it so that he feels more motivated to be tidier, and more encouraged to appreciate the toys he has?
Thanks for your help
Liz
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on -
Here's what worked for us: Get rid of everything except his favorite toys. EVERYTHING. You want as little in there as possible. Stick it all in bags and send it to Goodwill (okay, so my bags are still sitting in the garage...but that's better than on the floor!) Organize what's left into clear plastic bins. He needs to be able to see what's inside. No lids. They'll never get put on anyway and taking lids off adds another step to the cleaning up process. Keep the boxes on open shelves that allow him to just toss the toys in when he's cleaning. Labels with pictures are great for little kids but don't worry about that, since if you wait until you get around to making labels you'll never do it! Hopefully you've cleared out the toys enough that there are only a couple of boxes but if there are still a bunch, put most of them on a high shelf and make him trade one of his other boxes to get a new one down. This has been amazing for us! Of course, the boys' room still gets messy because I forget to follow up on making them clean but at least the mess isn't overwhelming and they can usually get it clean pretty quickly. Hope this helps. Good luck!
I should add that my oldest HATES getting rid of stuff. He gets attached to junk and freaks out if I suggest we get rid of it. I thought he would lose it when he saw what I had done but not only does he love the changes, he plays with his toys more often because he can find them without having to dig through a pile of junk.
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