Why Teaching Your Child Organization Is So Important

Why Teaching Your Child Organization Is So Important

The most important skill a child can acquire is the ability to organize. Organization of time and resources is key to academic success that continues to be important throughout the life of your child. Students sometimes fail or perform below their ability because they lack the skills necessary to organize their time, prioritize assignments, keep track of assignments, complete them and turn them in.

Saves Time

People spend about ten minutes a day looking for lost or misplaced items. How much time is spent going back home to retrieve a forgotten item? How many times have you had to leave your job to take forgotten homework, books or athletic equipment to a child who forgot them? How much homework time is lost because your child cannot find what he or she needs to study or complete assignments? Designating a time and place for homework is important in fostering organizational skills.

Helps the Brain Learn More Effectively

When items are organized in certain patterns or routines are established, the brain functions more effectively. When information is structured well, it makes complex information easier to understand and internalize. Prioritizing, an important component in organization helps the student focus on crucial information and filter out distractions.

Reduces Stress

Trying to locate lost homework, backpacks, school books or notes is especially stressful in the morning when trying to leave for the day. In the evenings, a household is quickly disrupted if your child remembers the spelling test right before bedtime. How many times have children suddenly remembered they needed supplies for a project?

At school, students who are constantly trying to find order among the disorder in their desks or backpacks may not only experience stress, they may induce stress in others as well. Trying to find notes for class in a messy backpack instead of using the time for last minute review before a test can adversely affect their test score.

Organization is a Life-Long Skill

Organization is important for academic success starting in elementary and throughout a person’s college career. Teaching children organizational skills helps them to become self-reliant and responsible. These skills will serve them well into adulthood. Recent surveys have shown that disorganization in the workplace results in lost time, which means lost money. An employee is paid to work, not look for lost items. The time one spends looking for items translates into lost productivity and thus poor job performance.

Organizational skills taught, fostered and reinforced consistently at an early age become an invaluable advantage for a lifetime.

About the Author

Jennie owns and operates several self storage units in Long Beach CA. When recommending storage facilities to friends and family in Baltimore MD, she recommends Extra Space Storage in Baltimore.