Your 6-Year-Old: Your little collector

Your little collector

A child's collections have a way of taking over his room — or the house. Arranging them in an artful and organized way will appeal to his sense of categorizing while making them a bit easier to live with, too. Helping your child organize a collection also signals that you take him and his endeavors seriously.

Your 6-year-old now

Arranging a beloved collection so others can see it will make your child feel proud – and is a great way to encourage further collecting. Bonus: It keeps things tidy, too.

Try to get him to winnow down the treasures to his favorites before you tackle organizing. Then start brainstorming together the ways he might display them.

To keep collectibles in plain sight, consider shelves, shadow boxes, or clear containers. Baskets or over-the-door shoe organizers make good nests for stuffed animals or dolls. Binders with clear plastic sleeves or photo albums protect card or leaf collections. If the collection consists of lots of small objects (like marbles or stones), look for containers with compartments – tackle boxes or jewelry boxes.

Encourage your child to sort and label the collection. Or suggest that he make an inventory of everything in it. That way he gets in some writing practice along with building organizational skills. For example, he could write down the names of his shells or rocks and when he bought or found them.

Your life now

As important as rules are to keeping a family running smoothly and helping a child know the boundaries, sometimes you should break them! Make exceptions to the no-building-forts-out-of-sofa-cushions rule if it's been raining all weekend long. Indulge your child in ice cream for dinner if he's recuperating from an illness. So long as you let him know it's a special exception, no harm is done.