Get My Kids Organized!

lmost every parent struggles with getting their kids' lives organized. Each season brings a whole new barage of items to manage. Sometimes it can feel like an incredibly hopeless situation. It is time to figure out a system that can get you from soccer season, to basketball season. Get clothes organized from Christmas to Back to School. When everything is easy to transition, your world and their's can run a lot more smoothly and keeping up with everything will hopefully not be such a battle.
You can implement a system no matter how little space you have to work with. A lot may depend on yoru child's age, so get inspired to come up with some ideas of your own to fit your personal situation.
-Get rid of extra junk. Kids can be inspired if you hold a garage sale and let them keep the money from the sale of their own items. Or, use this opportunity to teach your children about being charitable and remind them how lucky they are to have so much stuff that they actually need to get rid of some of it.
-Find unused space. A lot of times, we may not realize just how much space is actually available. Corner shelves only take up about a foot of actual space, but can hold a lot of books, games, figurines and models. Toy nets that hang from the ceiling can hold enough stuffed animals, blankets and pillows to clear out an entire toybox or closet shelf. Shallow wide containers make excellent out-of-sight storage under the bed.
-Move things out that do not need to be in the bedroom. Sports equipment can easily be kept in a mudroom or garage instead of in the bedroom. You can use a large garbage can or big wire basket to make it easy for your child to toss in pads, balls and bats when they come in the house. For children, sometimes it works best if you make a special area just for them. Try a bench for removing shoes and pads next to the container. Decorate with pictures or sports memorabelia to personalize the space.
-Revamp the closet. A lot of closets have one bar in the center and a shelf on top. Move the shelf up higher if possible. Store things that are hardly used up high. You can move the bar down closer to the floor for hanging clothes. Install a second or even third shelf above the hanging bar for games, folded clothes, toys and art supplies. Hooks or small bars can be installed higher on the sides for dresses, robes and longer coats. You may consider special childrens hangers to inspire you child to keep their clothing hung.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.
Each little change can make a big difference in your child's organization skills.

Showing Kids that They Matter

No matter what age your child is, it is very important to show them that they matter to you. Cuddling, listening, reading, playing and teaching are great ways to show your child that they are important. Boosting their self esteem, self worth and fostering their development are very important to ensure that they have every possibility to meet childhood milestones within the expected timeframes.
Simple things like eating a meal together will help foster their development. They learn appropriate behaviors, social interaction, textures, tastes and smells. This is a great opportunity to talk about what is healthy for our bodies and what should be reserved for special treats. You can even create learning tools and make healthy eating a theme for the day, week or month. Consider using a shoe box. Cut a hole and draw a mouth around the hole. Name the box and get your child to feed it pictures of healthy foods followed by special treats. Magazine cut-outs are handy for this exercise.
These types of activities help children to have a positive view of different foods. Plus, the simple interaction paired with positive reinforcement teaches them speech and language, assisting them with social skills as well. You do not have to spend a lot of money teaching your child about the world. Everything they need to know they can actually learn by listening, touching and feeling the everyday things around them.
Reading to your child is very important. Reading opens up a whole new world, teaching them about imagination and other places, people and things that they may not be exposed to otherwise. Reading develops their vocabulary and teaches them to derive word meanings from context.
Interaction with your child is invaluable. Spend the time with them that they deserve. Making eye contact and speaking in a clear voice will help them tremendously in their speech and language development. Avoid sarcasm, as it is very confusing to children who are just learning the language.
Each day of your child’s life, you should work on boosting their self-esteem and encouraging a good self-image. It will serve them well through their entire lives. It teaches them to love to learn, makes them want to do well in school, makes them want social interaction, it gives them the drive that is necessary to be successful in a career, as a spouse and as a parent later in life.
You can also help in this area by teaching your child responsibility and giving them chores early in life. Teach them to help with laundry, dishes, toy clean-up, cooking and anything else that they are capable of. Teach them to hang their own clothes and put their dirty ones in the laundry basket. Let them use childrens clothes hangers to make the task more manageable for them. Work in these areas and you will be sure that you have set your child up for a successful life.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.

Child Development Through Teaching Responsibility

Teaching responsibility to your child is something that should start as early as age two. Young children love to help out with household tasks. It is up to you to make it fun and a source of pride and self esteem. Use these tips to get your child on the path to a productive life. Teaching responsibility will help your child in all areas of development including social and emotional, cognitive, speech and language, and motor skills.
-Social and Emotional Development
This area covers children learning to help themselves, control their own behavior and interact appropriately with other people. When you spend time teaching your child to help out with small tasks, you are teaching them these things. They are interacting with you or other siblings, doing small chores that show them that they are capable of doing things on their own and controlling their behavior at the same time. One example is picking up laundry and putting it in a basket. This is a simple, yet effective lesson when combined with appropriate praise and positive reinforcement.
-Cognitive Development
Cognitive skills teach your child how to learn and how to solve problems that are presented to them. Many children are tactile learners and need to do, touch and feel to get the full meaning of what they are doing. Chores are a great way to teach them how to learn from their environment. An example of a chore that helps with cognitive development is cleaning up toys. Label baskets with pictures or words, depending on your child's level. Make a small pile of toys in front of the baskets and help your child figure out which objects go where. You can take it a step further by encouraging them to sort objects by color.
-Speech and Language Development
Speech and language development refers to the area of development that teaches your child how to understand what is said to them or around them. It also covers using the language that they have learned. To work in this area, use simple language on your child's level. Ask them to bring you a towel from the laundry pile. If they are successful, ask them to perform two tasks in a row. An example of this would be to ask them to find all of the spoons in the sink and put them into the dishwasher basket. As you are going, try to get them to repeat phrases, request objects and be sure to once again use lots of praise and reinforcement.
-Fine and Gross Motor Skills
This area covers your child's ability to use small muscle groups, such as fingers, and large muscle groups used for running, climbing and jumping. Make sure that your child has safe areas of the home that they are allowed to climb and jump from. Make toys that require pinching, lacing or pulling with fingers available to your child. You can use small chores to encourage fine and gross motor skills at the same time. Hanging up clothes is a good example. They use their fine motor skills to manage getting the clothes on to the hangers. You can provide a sturdy step ladder and get them to climb to the hanging bar to hang the clothes all by themselves. Use childrens hangers to make the task easier.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right childrens clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. For more information, please visit www.onlykidshangers.com.