I recently did a consult with a woman who had clearly reached her clutter limit. She was constantly picking up after her two children she told me, and the only one in the household who seemed to care about its organizational state. She was frazzled and exhausted.

We sat across from each other, she lamenting the lack of storage space in her home, the need for a remodel, and so on, and I, taking in her words while simultaneously attempting to keep her dog from burrowing its nose in my nether regions.

Finally she finished her speil and turned the tables over to me, at which point I informed her that the problem wasn’t the lack of storage space, nor was it the size of the freezer, nor was it even the shape of the kitchen. The problem was that she wasn’t putting her two best worker bees to work. “Your children are able-bodied individuals, more than capable of contributing to your home’s upkeep.” I told her.

She blinked. “Okay so, how would I do that?”

In her honor, and because I believe many parents are stumped about how to involve their kiddies in the process of Living Simply, I’ve put together a few illustrative examples.

1. Use child-friendly labels

While a child may not be able to heed a written label, they are no dummies and can certainly handle the visual cues of shapes, pictures, and colors. The bins below have been ingeniously appliqued with the shapes of socks, a bed for pajamas, underwear, etc. It is entirely reasonable to review with children which items belong in each bin, and to explain that it is their job to return items to their respective containers.

You can also use combinations of shapes and words, as seen in this dish drawer below.

And here, little pictures of what belongs within resides on the outside of each bin.

2. Make it easy for them

Children may not have the ability or patience to organize things with the preciseness that you or I could. However, they can still put stuff places. So, give them a break, (and yourself one in the process) by supplying them with realistically maintained organizational systems. Case in point: the stuffed animal storage down yonder. No exactness required, just put each stuffed animal in a loop, little one.

Storage containers of most kinds are suitable for children. As long as kids know they must put things away, and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Obviously the level of expectation will vary depending upon age, but even very young ones can manage to put all their toys away in something like the two cloth bins below.

3. Involve them in the process

As far as contributing to household upkeep, children should be included as soon as they are able. Chore charts, though dorky in theory, are incredibly helpful towards facilitating this. Spell out the duties each child is to look after as clearly as possible. Ensure there is no room for confusion on their end, and consider adding some reward aspect to make things more exciting.

Here is the truth: children not only benefit from, but actually like discipline. Don’t skip out on giving it to them by pretending they don’t have it together enough to help with your home’s maintenance.

And on top of that, there’s the fact that you’re equally as responsible for teaching your kids how to treat and deal with material goods as you are to impart the wisdom of healthy eating, exercise, seltzer water, or peanut butter.