Holiday time is on the way again, and for those of us with children this means another round of presents to add to our already overloaded space at home.

Now is a great time for you and the kids to make room for those new items coming your way this season. By doing this together you’ll be teaching them to take responsibility for their space and belongings. They’ll also learn basic organising strategies that will help them throughout the rest of their lives.

Here are some tips to make your pre-holiday sort-and-purge a success:

Make it an Annual Household Event

Having the children sort through their old toys each year in preparation for new ones is a great way to ease the pain of letting go. In homes where this is done yearly, the event is another signal for the children that the holiday season is nearly here. Knowing that they are making room for new toys adds to the excitement

Getting Started

Ask the kids to take everything out that needs to be sorted, and put it on the floor. Be prepared for some mess!  Make sure you have some boxes and shopping bags handy for items to go out, and then start sorting.

Sort the toys into 3 piles:

• To Stay
• To Go
• Not Sure (Keep this one small!)

Don’t stress too much if the ‘To Stay’ or the ‘Not Sure’ piles are bigger the first time round! Decision making can be a hard skill for many of us to learn.

Talk About Giving

Talk with your child about the value of recycling items and giving unused toys to children who will use and appreciate them. Many schools sponsor orphanages or children’s charities and have collection drives for toys and other items at various times of the year.

Create Objective Guidelines

Establish rule-of-thumb guidelines to make the sorting go smoothly. For example, you might agree that if an item hasn’t been played with since last Christmas, you’ll let it go.

Have a ‘Cooling Off Spot’ for Difficult Items

Box up any items left in the ‘Not Sure’ pile and put them in a cooling off spot that is accessible to the kids. Agree on a time frame for a final decision, e.g. “If it hasn’t come out of the box in 2 weeks or 1 month, we’ll pass it on.”

Take a Photo

Sentimental items are particularly difficult to let go of, but space limitations can push the issue. Suggest taking a photo of your child with the special toy, and then feature it in your family photo collection.

Have a Mini Garage Sale

A fun way to help kids move toys along can be to have a mini garage sale so they can sell any unwanted items to their friends. It can be a really enjoyable event, and they’ll have a great time making the ‘For Sale’ signs to put up around the neighbourhood. Another option is to join a community Car Boot sale where you can set up a small stall to sell your items.

Filed under: Family Organising | No Comments »

If you manage daily life for your kids (alone or with your partner), we call you a Family CEO.

That stands for ‘Chief Everything Officer,’ and we think it’s a pretty important role to play. In fact, we think it matters more than anything else!

Great Family CEOs spend their time and energy shaping a great future for all of us – through the people their children are becoming.

Unfortunately, we find that too many parents diminish this role one way or another. Some will sheepishly tell us that they’re just a stay-at-home parent. Others carry this huge responsibility in addition to working full-time or part-time jobs – and bear all the weight alone instead of sharing the load with partners, helpers and kids. Either way, these Family CEOs can learn a lot from the way effective corporate CEOs manage the business. Here are a few tips to help you improve the way you run things at home:

Stay focused on the big picture.

Not everything is worth getting fussed over. Pick a few key areas where it will really make a difference to establish some routines, and get these working consistently.

Get good technology.

It helps to have your own computer and handheld email device so that you can keep on top of things without waiting your turn for the family computer. Learn to use electronic organising tools. We strongly recommend synchronized electronic calendars for managing multiple schedules easily. Please ask us for help with this!

Draw lines between activities.

Try to do your computer work when the kids are at school or sleeping. Then stay focused, and work efficiently. Learn to manage your email, calendar and to-do lists effectively. When you’re with the kids, be fully present – mentally as well as physically. Build in time for yourself as well as time to nurture your relationship with your partner – and then get good at protecting this time.

Delegate.

You don’t have to do everything yourself. In fact, it’s bad for your kids if you do everything for them. Find things they can manage independently, and praise them for doing so. Learn to help your helper help you better. Have a discussion with your partner about how you can share the load.

Systemise.

Look for as many things in your regular routine that you can template as possible. Examples include a rotating meal plan, a cleaning schedule, and packing checklists for weekly activities. Think it through really well once – with everyone’s input – then put the whole thing on auto-pilot.

Don’t get emotional.

I know, I know…easier said than done. But does it ever actually help? Not so much. Remember what matters. Remember that you can’t un-say anything.

Communicate effectively.

If you apply even half the techniques in this book, your relationship with your kids will improve tremendously. Shouting doesn’t work.

Develop your team.

Take classes on parenting, organising, communicating, etc. Invest time in each other. Have meaningful conversations. Set goals together and celebrate your successes. Have fun together!

Filed under: Family Organising | No Comments »

It’s time to get the kids launched for a new school year.  As kids grow, your systems and routines must grow as well so you can keep up with busier schedules and heavier homework loads.

To help you stay on top of everything with minimal stress, here’s what we consider to be 5 essential areas to have sorted:

Family Calendar

There should be one master calendar into which all those important dates for the family get entered. We strongly recommend doing this electronically so you can quickly get the dates onto both parents’ calendars with one click. If you have a combo of PC and Mac machines in your family, set up a Google calendar and sync in the cloud – to computers and handhelds all in one go. We can help you with this – just call 2869 9687.

Family Time Map

This is a colour-coded grid showing everyone’s regular appointments, especially relevant for after school and weekend activities. Print it out and hang it on the fridge or a pinboard for everyone to see. Parents, kids and helpers should all know how to read this in order to plan and pack for the next day and discuss occasional changes to the usual schedule.

Entryway

Be sure you and the kids have clearly established places for them to put away their backpacks, lunch sacks, water bottles, activity equipment, sweaters and so on. Designate baskets, hooks, shelves, drawers and cupboards for the various items. For the first couple of weeks, be sure you and/or your helper stand near the front door as the kids come in so you can guide the unpacking process. Shouting doesn’t work; guided practice does.

Kids’ Workspaces

Make sure each child has an ergonomically-sound, pleasant workspace in which to complete homework. This doesn’t have to be a fancy desk in the bedroom. In fact, we prefer to see this happening in a family room/lounge or shared family study so everyone can be closely connected and productive together. All sorts of problems develop when kids are sent off on their own to try and get their homework done. It’s really not the way to go.

Meal Planners

Take a few minutes to write up a list of 10 snacks and 10 lunches your kids like. (Big hint – do this with them if you want the food to be eaten!) Do the same for a month’s worth of family dinners if you’re feeling really ambitious. Print it off each weekend and highlight what you’ll have that week for whoever does the grocery shopping. Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy.

Filed under: Family Organising | No Comments »