Organizing Children's Dresser Drawers

Are you always scared to open your children's dresser drawers? Do you wonder why you ever fold their laundry? Are the socks in every drawer and the shirts in the pants drawer. Do they even have specific drawers for specific things?

For your kids to have an organized dresser...it starts with them being taught how to organize their dresser.

*Make sure there is a specific drawer for each item.
It is easiest and makes most sense to me to have the socks and underwear in one of the top and usually smaller drawers. If there are enough drawers to separate them, that is wonderful. Belts can go in here also.

Have a shirt drawer, pants drawer, shorts drawer, winter gear or sweatshirt drawer and one for P.J's.

*It is OK to label the drawers to help your children out. You can make fun and fancy labels, or even have the kids make their own labels.
At least when they are young, this helps them to learn that clothes have specific places to go. When they are older, they probably won't need the labels anymore.

*Keep on top of their drawers with them. My kids put their own clean clothes away. I work to teach independence to my children, so when they are out on their own, they know how to do these things.
But in doing so, I have to say that the drawers usually are not as I would want them. I do have 2 of my 5 children at home that keep up with their drawers (and they are 2 of the 8 year olds). I go in every couple of weeks to the other 8 year old and help him pull the shirts out of the underwear drawer where he has stuffed them as a quick get away. Put his underwear back into the underwear drawer and refold many items.

Three of my four older boys have ADHD, so this is normal routine for me. I am surprised when I see one of the triplets reorganizing his drawers on his own! (Wow)

That is why the labels are so helpful. They may not always follow it, but it does help to reinforce where things should go and works to get them into that routine so they can learn it for a life time.

Organizing their dressers can help to save time. They can find their clothes when it is time to get ready to school. They know right off the bat if their band shirt is clean for the performance the next night and they look nicer if their shirt didn't just come out of a sock drawer all wadded up.

Most children will not do this on their own. They need help from you to make it work.