Dear Mom;

I like your attitude - "How can I help him?" With teenagers (I raised two girls myself) there is a lot going on. First of all, they usually don't want any interference, after all it is all 'private" stuff. So just going in and doing it for them doesn't work.

Secondly, they have way more "stuff" than we did when we were their age, so they have that much more quantity to cope with.

Make sure he has all the right equipment:

A bed that is easy to make. I can't emphasize strongly enough how important is to teach kids, from any EARLY age, to make their beds. If the bed is made, ANY bedroom already looks better. But it needs to be easy; comforters as the best solution - one toss and it's made.

A desk. Paper has to be dealt with at a desk (to say nothing of homework). It should have a large enough work surface so he can spread out a little. If he has a computer it needs to be on it's own workstation. Don't put it on the desk. The desk should have a file drawer. It is not too early to learn how to store paper (vertically not in piles horizontally)

A very large wastebasket. Chances are whatever trash/junk is in his room is because he doesn't see or can't find the wastebasket (Barbara Hemphill, Past President of the National Association of Professional Organizers calls it "The Art of Wastebasketry")

An easy to use (no lid) clothes hamper. Same reason as the wastebasket.

A bookcase or lots of shelves. A place to put "things"

Then try to enforce (I hate to use that word) one rule: everything off the floor. This is most often justified by saying "I have to be able to vacuum" . Again, a picked-up floor makes any room look almost clean. If he has too much stuff to be able to manage, which most kids do these days, you need to put him on a "stuff-diet"- "something new comes in - something old leaves"

But if it doesn't work you can always console yourself with the thought that in a few years he will grow up and move out and then you can start filling his room with YOUR stuff.

Copywrited August 1999 Karla Jones

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Copywrited August 1999 Karla Jones