Summerize the House for Kids

It's summertime again, and that means for many of you, the kids are out of school and probably underfoot a little more than usual– in a good way! It's wonderful to spend more time together as a family, but there are challenges that come with the togetherness, usually related to the common areas of the house where people share spaces. Here are some strategies to make things go more smoothly:

• First, clear the school paper clutter out as soon as possible. Doing this means the transition from school to summer is really complete! Get closure by recycling and shredding as needed, and be choosy about what artwork you keep. Have the kids participate in this process, especially with the artwork.
• If you swim frequently, establish a home for swimming gear like towels, pool toys, club membership cards, etc. that constantly come in and out of the door. Hanging up a row of pegs in the garage or near the back door often solves a lot of dropped towel problems. And in the bathroom, if you need extra towel racks to hang up towels and suits, you can use these clever Hinge-It racks that easily install behind the door.
• Anything that is happening frequently, whether it's baseball or just playing outside, needs to have an established system for handling the gear so it isn't a constant problem or mess. Look for the bottlenecks and logjams and focus on solving them now before they drive you crazy!
• Make it as easy as possible for children to serve themselves for snacks and drinks. Look at your kitchen from a kid point-of-view and make sure they can easily reach cups and bowls and healthful snacks. Use our drinking glass "parking space" method for corralling the extra cups, and remember that it's not too early for most children to learn to clean up, too. Even kindergartners can put a dirty dish in the dishwasher. Really!
• Have some regular routines for your children so they still get a feeling of consistency in their lives. Make some of the routines about running the home, like cleaning and organizing and doing chores, and make some of the routines fun, like a weekly "library day." Chores for the kids might include sweeping the porch, putting shoes and laundry away in their rooms, and emptying the dishwasher in the morning. We have a 26-page Household Systems & Routines workbook that is a bonus item included in our membership program, which helps you go through your home and decide about frequency and ownership of all of the tasks it takes to run everything. This workbook has suggested responsibilities for children in every section (and our members say the process has been GREAT for getting spouses to share more of the workload too!).
• Get a grip on the family room with an evening routine. Along with the other routines you'll create, make sure you specifically focus on the family room or game room. There will be more snack mess and game accessory/movie clutter than usual. Make it a policy to clean up from the day's activities before bedtime. You might also want to have a rule that all snacks go on trays– helps reduce mess and make cleanup faster.
• If you're getting ready for an overnight summer camp, make sure you check out my previous post on Organizing Your Happy Campers for some great tips on the packing process.
• Overall, loosen your standards for the house and enjoy your kids. As I always say, it's not about being perfect! Good Enough is really good enough. Make exceptions frequently!  🙂

Have a great summer, everyone!

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