Does such a thing even exist?
Yes. Yes it does.
If you have a kid with ADHD, you probably also have a kid’s room that is a mess. A mess like a hurricane just went through.
It’s hard for kids with ADHD to keep their rooms neat and tidy. (Hey, it’s hard for adults with ADHD too.) And it’s even harder for them to get it clean and orderly. Telling them to clean their room is like asking you to clean your local stadium after a big game.
It’s overwhelming. They don’t know where to begin. And then they get distracted.
For a while – a long while – you’re going to have to make this a team effort. You need to be there to help them stay on track and make decisions about things. Once you get their room down to a reasonable state, helping them stay on top of it will be easier.
Here are a few of my suggestions:
Start with one thing. For instance, concentrate on picking up all of the clothes on the floor and putting them in a laundry basket. Might as well start a load too.
Or you could pick up all the trash and put it in a garbage bag. Since clothes are bigger, I think that’s the easier of the two.
Once the clothes are out, you have a better idea of what’s left. Take a look at it and then see what the problem is. Is there a storage solution for what’s lying about? Is it easy to use? Things should be easier to put away than to take out. Dumping all of the crayons in one box is easy; going through them to find the right purple crayon is a little bit more work.
Also, is there just too much stuff in the room? Too much of anything will make a room messy and hard to keep clean. Consider putting some things in rotation – store them in a box in storage for a month or two and then rotate them out and the old stuff in.
Do you have a play area or other place where some toys can go? Have your kids outgrown some things? Time to toss them or donate them.
Paring down the amount of stuff and providing places for it to go will help your child keep their room neat and organized.
Want more? Check out this article from Small Notebook. It’s a guest post from Renee Tougas from Fun in My Backyard.
