A child’s clutter is something that terrifies even the most bold parents – who ever knew that taking care of your child included cleaning up mess that seems to appear out of nowhere?

However, there’s no parenting problem that doesn’t have its own solution; and for a case as tedious as a toddler’s mess of belongings, your methods to organise the madness must be simple, practical and successful.

Fortunately, we managed to compile ways you can create order within the disorder of raising your little one:

Enforce A Place For Everything

As simple as it sounds, it’s the fundamental lesson that will help you and your children declutter.

From the day your child gauges an awareness of their belongings, let them know that their toys have a specific place they should be after they’re done playing. Children have a tendency to drop their things as soon as they lose interest, and it is at this point that you have to step in: point at the teddy bear on the floor, and simply say, “Please put it back where it belongs.” Don’t use force by default; let your child learn this habit without making it feel like a gruesome chore.

This way, your child will start to avoid dropping things on the floor to cause a mess – you’ll have to pick a lot less stuff from the ground!

Keep Toys To A Limit

We don’t mean just restrict your child to have only three toys in total.

What we mean is to put a limit to the number of toys your child is allowed to play with in a given time. The more options you put out, the more eager they will become to play with every single thing they can grab. To put it in a nutshell, you’d be signing up for a lot more mess than you bargained for.

That’s why when its play time, pick out only a few five at a time, and put the rest back into baskets. Hide them under the bed so that they don’t get the urge to pick out even more. Keep on rotating their toys from time to time so that they don’t get bored of their toys (and begin nagging for new ones, further adding to the clutter problem).

Keep Clothes In Compartments

Once your entire clothes system is organised, there is little chance of expecting any unnecessary clutter anywhere.

Get plastic drawer sets for your child’s clothes, and label every compartment with a specific type of clothing: socks, pants, shirts, nighttime clothes, and whatever else works. When picking out and placing clothes back in, show your child how every item has its place – and don’t forget to show how clean their room looks now! This kind of practical lesson helps your child understand the need to put everything back in place – all for a more organised room.

Whenever its bath-time, have a strict “no-clothes-on-the-floor” policy; make them put their clothes in a separate basket labelled for laundry, so that no added mess has to be made, and your life is made easier.

Give Away Unnecessary Things

Every child has a few things they find uninteresting, but have with them anyway; these are often those toys they buy out of impulse, or clothes that they don’t wear that much anymore.

This is a perfect chance for you to get rid of the mess, and what better way to do that than through charity?

Most of the times, parents give away their children’s belongings behind their backs under the assumption that they’d throw a tantrum. While that may be a prevailing truth for children younger than 2 years, it doesn’t have to be that way for older children – i.e. 4 year-olds and beyond.

Get them close, and tell them about this place you found with children who need toys like your child’s. If they show signs of hesitation, tell them how they’d enjoy having things to play with, and that happiness is supposed to be shared this way. Once you point out the belongings your child doesn’t find interesting anymore, they will become more willing to give away things to those in need. Indirectly, you’re teaching them how to have a big heart.


The sooner children are taught these fundamental lessons of organisation, the better will it be for them in the future. That’s something most teachers in nurseries in JLT are aware of – especially Oakfield Early Learning Centre. At Oakfield, everything has its place, and the students know this – from their coats, lunch boxes, books, toys, and even blankets. Through gentle instructions, the children are taught the importance of keeping things neat and ordered.

All in all, the gist is simple: the sooner you make decluttering part of your family’s lifestyle, the better!