If you feel that you’re constantly doing everything at home, you’re probably not alone. And yes this applies to both moms and dads- parents in general really. Sometimes it’s difficult to get your kids in on the housework.
But, finding this motivation to organize- not only yourself or your household, will also go a long way when it comes to getting your family on-board.
From an autistic autism mom to you
The Autism Family Guide is your shortcut to autism parenting.
How do I know?
Because friend, the resources in this guide are lifechanging.
Create routines with ease, calming strategies at your fingertips, and more.
Though we’ve previously talked about apps to organize your family, today we’ll talk about how to organize your family so you aren’t doing all the work. And if you need ideas, here are more home organization tips for moms.
Sounds good, right? I’m fortunate that Kyle helps out a lot of with housework. In fact, he’s better at getting everything initially cleaned. I’m great with upkeep and I don’t mind deep cleaning. In fact, if I have a cleaning schedule to work with? I will keep things organized and tidy. Sweet B helps out a little and it’s something that we’re going to work on with Squeaker.
Kids of almost any age can get involved with housework and chores.
4 Tips for Organizing Your Family as an Autistic Mom
* Make it about responsibility and ownership. For things like jackets and shoes, each family member can certainly be held responsible and accountable. Especially where it concerns their personal space- give them ownership over it. It’s their bedroom, let it be their responsibility.
* Make it a point system. For older children, give them a certain number of points per task that they help with. These points can then be traded in for privileges (such as watching TV, computer time, etc.)
* Make a Toy Jail. Or something similar if you have older children. Sometimes that’s all the motivation that a child needs to help clean up.
* Establish Work Space. To keep homework from getting lost, establish a clear work space that has everything your child will need. Keep this area free from distraction. Likewise, make a work space for every family member if you can. Having space to do what you need to do can be a blessing.
Essential Tools For Home Organization for Neurodiverse Families
Bins and Containers
Finding the right bins and containers for items can really help get things off the floor and onto shelves, into closets, and just up off the floor. You may find that you can get by with a few clear bins in each work space, or a set of inexpensive plastic shelves.
You may prefer a large dresser or filing cabinet for the whole family, with each person having his or her drawer. Whatever you choose, make sure the containers can be closed and stacked, and that you can see what’s in them (and/or label them).
Other options could include toy chests, baskets, hampers, etc.
Almost anything can become a container for organizing, you just need to put it to use.
But don’t use a container for organizing as an excuse to stash. Stashing is not organizing and stashing is not cleaning.
What tips do you have to share? What has worked for you with organizing your family?
From an autistic autism mom to you
The Autism Family Guide is your shortcut to autism parenting.
How do I know?
Because friend, the resources in this guide are lifechanging.
Create routines with ease, calming strategies at your fingertips, and more.
Kori
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Toy jail is awesome. It’s one of the few things that really worked for my family. Now that I have a couple of busy teens, we’ve found a weekly family meeting has really helped us plan and organize for the week ahead. We sync up our calendars and plan the menu as a family. This is also when we reiterate responsibilities and call out anyone who has been slacking the past week to identify any problems.
I think family meetings are a great idea! We will be doing those when the youngest is old enough to fully participate.
Good tips…. I find organizing the family also needs to be flexible… as the family grows and changes… systems also sometimes need adjustment. Good article. 🙂
I love all your tips. We really need to establish work spaces for each child. Unfortunately our current house isn’t conducive to that, but we’re hoping to move soon, so maybe that can happen. I love the toy jail idea too. That’s a good one and would have worked really well when our kids were younger!