How to help your disorganized child: 7 tips for better organization

Isn’t it just kids with ADHD who are disorganized? Kids who don’t have ADHD sometimes don’t remember to bring their homework home either. I can’t remember taking homework to school when they brought it home. It’s not intentional. He really wants to do his homework. He just forgets. Maybe his school supplies are poorly organized. He maybe he has bad time management skills. With all the distractions that bombard kids today, it’s no wonder they are so forgetful and disorganized.

Without some basic organizational strategies, kids do poorly in school and their grades plummet. Some kids end up cheating or lying, whatever it takes to survive in school with a minimum of criticism and punishment. Disorganization and forgetfulness get in the way of success in school.

You can teach your child how to be more organized. Maybe you’ll even find some of these tips helpful around your home.

Seven tips to help your disorganized child

1. Color code: Help your child organize their school books and notebooks by color coding them. Use colored book covers, stickers, labels, stars, or bookmarks with one color for each topic. You can also color code the books by adding colored stickers.

2. Transparent Book Covers: Save Consider using clear book covers to cover the books so your child can always see the covers.

3. Organization of the lockers: Help your child organize his locker. Brainstorm with him to come up with the best solution. Often locker organizers or locker shelves help a lot. Put morning books on one shelf and afternoon books on another, or math and science on one shelf, language arts and social studies on another, for example. Label the shelves.

4. Extra Set of Books: Keep an extra set of textbooks at home. Before you buy them, ask if the school can provide them for you. Also check the web for companies that rent textbooks.

5. Organizer: Help your child develop daily schedules. Some schools provide daily planners. If her school doesn’t provide planners, she’ll need to purchase one or a PDA (personal digital assistant) at an office supply store. While you’re there, you and your child can look for other products to help with organization.

6. Structure: Offer to help your child organize his homework time. As soon as you get home, go over the list of assignments for the next day, as well as any long-term assignments. If you wait until later, it may be too late to get an assignment from a friend or a book from school. Help her decide which task she will do first. Then help him figure out enough time for each task.

7. Home organization: You and your disorganized child must decide on a place to put completed homework. A place to put everything you need to go back to school, including your lunch. A hook for your jacket. And keeping your room clear helps too. Ask him to set a weekly time to clean and organize his room. Some kids will need to do this every day for a while until organization becomes a habit. Just like you did with her locker, find shelves and bins to put things away. Color coding helps here too. You may need to help them at first.

Kids will do better in this new organizing routine if it’s simple and they’ve had a say in what will and won’t work. Disorganized kids may go overboard with color coding, labels, and stickers, which only leads to further disorganization because it’s too complicated. They may need help to make it easier.

Being organized gives children a sense of power and control over school and their lives. As they start to feel good about themselves, they will start to do better in school.