A teen’s bedroom can be a scary place and is often a huge source of conflict between parent and child. Helping create a structure to their space that is user friendly and that makes sense to them will help in making tidying and maintaining order easier. Organising your space and time is a skill and there is no better way to learn what works best than to experiment with different ideas.
Teens today don’t seem to be able to function without their electronics. Create a docking station that has all the cords for the various devices. Cords can be tied up neatly with just the functional end available to make for ease of use.
Most teens use an app on their phone but it always helps to have a visual reminder of important dates to work for. A write and swipe magnetic board is useful. A cork board to pin papers also helps. Diaries work for some children, my daughter loves visual reminders, but won’t be used if information is accessed on their phone as is the case for my technology driven son.
Create a display area:
A display area is a space that your teen can have photographs, quotes, tickets from a memorable concert. A thin wire with small pegs to catch all these items is a great idea. As the items get old they can be moved on and replaced.
Creating a place for school papers and school supplies is important. If there is a clearly defined area for this there wont be the panic when the rubric for the science project goes missing. Useful items in this space would be a container with writing and project materials. A simple open filing system so that notes for each subject can be just dropped into separate folders.
Managing the clutter
Try to keep clutter off surfaces, containers for the most frequently dumped items works. A bin for laundry, another for sports equipment or TV Games