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What are the two things you have to tell your kid the most? Probably “Eat your greens” and “Clean your room.” Children’s rooms tend to get messy because kids have so many toys, and each day, they create a brand new mess which then has to be cleaned up. Taking things out is always much easier than putting them back. That challenge doubles during the holiday season, when children have a lot of new toys and no specific place to put them. How can you help your child to get organized?

Odds are your child is disorganized not only because of laziness, but also because the room isn’t yet conducive to good organization. It helps to take a few minutes to think about the best way to organize a child’s room. How tall is your child? Kneel down on the floor and try to picture your child’s room from his or her point of view. How easy is it to reach drawers and shelves in your child’s room? Are there closet doors in the way with hard-to-reach handles? Can children reach their toy and clothing storage areas?

If closet doors are in the way, it may pay off to remove the doors for smaller children. Yes, the thought of the open closet may be appalling at first, but at least the closet, and not the middle of the room, will be used to store toys. That alone can make a huge difference. When your child gets taller and has less trouble with the doors, you can put them back on.

Another helpful move is to give your child some floor-level storage options. Plastic storage bins for toys are perfect for this purpose. You can keep them on the floor where even small children can easily reach them. They are perfect for toys as well as for certain clothing items which do not need to be folded or hung, such as socks and underwear. Purchase a combination of large and small plastic containers so that there are options both for storing larger items and smaller, easily misplaced items (like Lego blocks or other toys with small parts).

Both open faced bins and sealable plastic containers are good for kids for different reasons. Very young children (or any lazy child) may have an easier time starting out with open faced bins since they remove the step of opening or closing the lid, and they also make everything instantly visible and available. Sealable bins are good however for keeping toys contained and preventing them from getting lost or broken. Children can also stack these bins on the floor in the closet to conserve space, while still being able to easily reach their things.

As a parent, you may not understand why your child has such a hard time staying neat, but it isn’t easy to stay organized without the right supplies and a good organizational scheme. Work with your child side-by-side to come up with a plan which will work for both of you. That way your child knows you respect his or her space. Your child is far more likely to follow a plan which he or she contributed to in order to stay organized.