The initial reaction of every parent when the words “children’s room” and “order” are mentioned in the same sentence is “That's impossible!” you know what? I'm not even going to argue, keeping order in a kid’s room is as hard as teaching dolphins to walk on land.

Before you start organizing the kid’s room, it's important to accept the fact that kids won't stick to your system, and they don't need to! It is more influential to not impose your rules, but to look at the room through the eyes of a child. The basic principle is — It’s not the child for the room but the room for the child.

A child's room should fit to their personality.

Before organizing the nursery into zones, think about this:

• Consider what your children like. What are their hobbies? How do they spend their spare time? Once you understand what they value and what is important to them, build the room around that, look at the room through their eyes. Literally.

• Look around the room from the child's height. Is it comfortable to reach for books or toys? Is everything potentially dangerous stowed away where your child can't reach it?

• Put away everything unnecessary. Make the child's room more free, especially if your child prefers active play. Moreover, less unnecessary things in the room means less visual noise, making it easier to keep things tidy.

In the children's room, you must follow the same logic as in the rest of the rooms; arrange the furniture and distribute things so that it corresponds to the scenarios for their use.

Functionally, the children's room is divided into six zones.

Sleep and rest area.
This area “dances” around the bed. You need to determine where and how to place the bed so that the child will be comfortable. Make sure it isn’t too close to the window or too close to the radiator. The bed itself should be as comfortable as possible, it should be easy for your child to get on and off, also think about the possibility of lying down next to them, for example, to read a bedtime story.

Creativity zone.
Here it is important to consider what your child is into, maybe the child needs a separate table, storage area, or extra light for an activity. If the child likes to draw, you should keep in mind that everything around will be splattered with paint, and it should also be convenient to take and put away all the supplies.

Study area.
Here you need not only a comfortable table and chair, but good lighting is also important, this area is better placed near a window closer to natural light. This area also requires a convenient place to store textbooks, notebooks, and stationery. Please keep in mind that next to the area there should be an extra space in case an adult wants to help with assignments.

Games and physical activity area.
This is where you have the least number of rights. When organizing this area, listen to your child, ask questions where to put what? Where to make room? How much space do they need? Where is it comfortable to store toys and whether they want to put everything on the floor or on shelves?

If the child is involved in a sports club or just likes to move around, perhaps the play area can be supplemented with a climbing wall or, for example, a mirror where it’s possible to practice dancing movements.

Clothes closet.
If your child's clothes are stored in the nursery, it is very important to choose the right closet, you're not going to buy a new one every year. Therefore, the closet should be chosen like it’s for a grown up child. Let the top shelves be empty, but as the child grows, they will be able to occupy the shelves higher and higher.

Important! Please do not follow stereotypes and do not decorate the nursery as “accepted”. For example, don’t make everything blue if it's a boy and buy everything pink if it’s a girl. If this is a baby’s room, follow your preferences. Let the textiles, curtains, blankets, pillows, and decor be as you like it, when the child gets older, let them tell you what colors, textures, and decor he likes.

All children have different characters, hobbies, dreams, and no! I'm not captain obvious, I just want to emphasize that children, unlike adults, will not adjust. They are freer and more creative, they are learning about the world and exploring it themselves, at their own pace.

Please, when calling your child to order, don't try to act authoritarian! What looks like total chaos to you can just be your child's own system, what might look tasteless to you is beloved and dear to their heart.

It might be that you are comfortable with a system, but your child isn’t, don't get mad, just try to understand their logic.

Here’s what will help you to maintain order without pressure:

Properly organized storage.
Place things so that your child has easy access to them, this develops independence. If it's uncomfortable for your children don't have easy access to shelves or drawers to store their toys after playing with them, they would most likely just leave it all on the floor.

Zones for self-expression.
The more freedom children have, the more likely that they will one day love order. For example, if your kid likes to draw on the walls, highlight a free wall, gluing it with white wadding. If the child has plenty of toys or dolls that need to “sit”, arrange one or two free shelves for them.

Freedom for movement
Children's activities should not be limited by their room; rather, a child likes to be where you are. Naturally, he or she will spend a lot of time with adults in the kitchen or living room, so you can set up a children's area in these rooms.

Use baskets, boxes, or soft containers (made of felt, for example) to store some toys in this area, place a comfortable, non-slip mat or playpen to mark out the space.

And lastly, order in the children's room and in other rooms always depends on how comfortable it is for the child to maintain this order. Do not look at pretty pictures in a magazine, think only about what is comfortable for you and your child and start from there.


Your Clea.