Beyond Folders : teens

Tips for Taming Teen Clutter

Community Manager — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:43:00 GMT

Teen clutter seems to proliferate faster than a hot You-Tube video goes viral. Stop the runaway mess before it engulfs your home (or your teen's room) with a few simple steps.

Make your teen a partner in clutter control. Teens crave privacy and self-determination so consider letting them have more leeway in deciding how clean to keep their own rooms. For example, clutter may be off-limits in the family room, but permitted within reason in their bedrooms. When you enlist your teen as a partner, and respect their growing ability and need for self-determination, you better the odds of harmonious cohabitation.

Bedroom Boundaries: Determine your own clutter threshold for the household and lay down clear ground rules. Examples might include a "no food" policy for bedrooms, requiring a clear exit path between the bed and the door for safety reasons, and a rule that if any bad smells come from a bedroom, it then needs a thorough cleaning by the teen. If these conditions are all met, grit your teeth about the piles of laundry and other annoyances.

Everything in its Place: Take time to evaluate your teen's room to determine if they have the needed tools for neatness. Do they have adequate storage? If not, consider investing in inexpensive shelving such as Ikea's Expedit units which can easily hold files for school papers and baskets and bins for corralling small items and clothing. Work with, not against your teen: if they don't fold and store clothes neatly, buy bins to hold clothing piles and install a rack of pegs or hooks to easily capture garments.

Less is More: If the room is overstuffed with toys and clothes, encourage a purge. Donating or selling the unused items can net your teen some money and creates a more manageable set of belongings. Maintain order by doing a big purge at least twice a year. Good times for purging are after major gift events such as Christmas or birthdays.

House Rules: While teens may have leeway in their rooms, parents have every right to set conditions about how shared rooms are managed. Rather than nag constantly, assign every family member a chore that keeps order in shared rooms. And give family members a designated basket or bin to be kept in the mudroom or family room. Odds and ends can be tossed in the bins during nightly clean up and emptied on the weekends.

Teens as Time-Savers: Getting Kids to Help Around the House

Community Manager — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:59:00 GMT

Working parents are chronically pressed for time, juggling the needs of family, home and work. Yet many busy families fail to take full advantage of a useful, free resource that can typically be found sprawled across the sofa, cell phone in one hand, snack in another. Yes, we're talking about your teen.

Savvy parents press their teens into service on a variety of tasks around the house: from lawn care to cooking, to shopping and cleaning. Requiring teens to pitch in on running the household is a win-win for all. Parents get needed help around the house and teens learn critical life skills for navigating the adult world.

What's for Dinner?: Turn the nightly "what's-for-dinner?" question over to your teens once a week. In My Sons, The Sous-Chefs, NYT reporter Leslie Kaufman recounts how with some prep work (i.e. providing basic kitchen training and guidance on recipe selection) she was able to outsource two meals a week to her teen sons.

Bag Grocery Shopping: Teens and their bottomless-pit appetites make stocking the house with groceries an ongoing (and expensive!) task. Deputize your teen to take over the grocery run by buying a portable shopping cart they can walk to the store, list in hand. If groceries aren't within walking distance, drop your child off while you run other errands and arrange to pick her and the groceries up at a set time. Online financial site Mint.com has great tips for teaching kids to navigate supermarkets with a budget here.

Live-In Housekeeper: Live-in housekeepers may seem like a luxury for celebrities and mega millionaires but when you deputize the multiple members of a family to pitch in on chores, it's like having your own live-in cleaning squadron. Read Who Needs a Housekeeper? for tips on teaching kids cleaning fundamentals.

Laundry 101: Laundry ain't rocket science but then again knowing how to sort colors, choose water temps and follow garment care labels isn't instinctive either. Take time to teach your teen laundry basics; you are giving them a skill they will use until they are old enough to teach their own kids to take over laundry duty. Step-by-step instructions can be found in this useful post.

Finally, we leave you with advice on setting up a user-friendly, equitable chore chart from our past post Why Scheduling Household Chores Works.

Let us know how your new chore charts work. Does having teens pitch in help your household run more smoothly? Is your teen slowly acquiring needed life skills? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

Teen Jobs: An Important Rite of Passage

Community Manager — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:14:00 GMT

School is in full swing and your teens are doubtlessly juggling academics and after-school activities. Consider adding another important activity to your teen's to-do list: job hunting. A first job is an important rite of passage, teaching responsibility and money management skills. Even the act of looking for a job is a teachable moment, so don't let the down job market deter you and your teen from embarking on a fall job hunt, or for getting a head start in thinking about summer jobs.

Parent Trap

Parents can and should help their children navigate their first job hunt but should take pains to avoid falling into the trap of "owning" the job search. Try not to do all the leg work, or steer your teen to your preferred work, doing so will rob your teen of the chance to make their own decisions and mistakes. The act of looking is an education in its own right; let your teen dive in and take control.

Parents wishing to encourage and support their teens can help with resume proofreading and with big-picture thinking; for example, encourage your teens to think about what type of work they are well suited for and would enjoy. Shy teens might prefer a job shelving library books or working in a store stockroom rather than a role that requires people skills such as manning the library front desk or working the sales floor. A teen who enjoys animals might work as a dog-walker and a sports enthusiast might work at a sports camp or gym.

Job Snob

Parents can also help set realistic expectations. Many teen jobs pay minimum wage and often involve less than glamorous work. A teen may be surprised to learn how many hours it takes at a minimum-wage job to earn a coveted pair of designer jeans. Parents can help teens understand that all work has merit and that a job well done leads to increased opportunities down the road.

Encourage your teens to think outside-the-box. Jobs are harder to come by than ever and historically teen-friendly jobs such as retail and restaurant work are seeing adults vie for positions. Get creative: babysitting, dog-walking and other services such as digitizing photos or music are all jobs teens can look for in their own neighborhood. Many local libraries or civic groups sponsor teen jobs fairs or training. If a teen cannot find paid work, encourage them to volunteer to gain necessary experience for their go round.

Finally, take time to read through these resources we culled from across the web. Read these articles with your teen and discuss what tips seem most helpful and why.

Does your teen have a job? Do you have job hunting tips to share with teen job seekers? Share your thoughts here and on the Beyond Folders Community's Facebook and Twitter pages.

by Candie Harris