Children thrive on order, but are often unable to create it for themselves. Most children are not good at organizing their closets and rooms. For this task, they need some help. Often, they need a lot of help, in fact. It is up to parents to step in and provide a plan to make the child's closet easy for the child to understand and to use.

The first thing you need to consider is the age of the child. A four-year-old will have a much different closet arrangement than a nine-year-old, for example. Different aged children have various abilities such as using hangers, reading labels, and reaching tall bars. You need to think about what you are expecting your child to do in keeping the closet tidy.

A closet for a four-year-old might have bins for toys. You could label the bins for different kinds of toys, but the child may have trouble reading some of the labels. If that is the case, you can always use labels that are pictures cut out of a catalog or magazine. A picture of blocks could be put on a bin for building blocks. Just affix the label to the bin, and explain to the child that they should look and then sort.

Another consideration for a four-year-old would be that he or she cannot reach a high bar. Hangers are also difficult to manage with little hands. Hooks are good for hanging clothes that must be hung. For anything you can put into a drawer, it is great to have shelves or drawers for these items. Then your child will be able to get dressed without help.

A nine-year-old has different needs, yet often still has the need for some help with organization. A child this age can handle putting clothes on hangers and taking them off of them. This child can reach the tall bar to get down clothes. His or her closet will be more like an adult's closet than a four-year-old's, but it will still have to accommodate the child's needs.

Nine-year-olds have different types of playthings than four-year-olds. They may still be interested in Barbie dolls or action figures. They may have collections, such as baseball cards or coins. They will not want these items hidden away or thrown into a bin. Shelves are a good idea for such treasures. Girls this age might have jump ropes or pompoms that can be placed on hooks. Boys might have radio-controlled cars that can be placed on special shelves. Whatever the toy or hobby, there should be a place to store it.

Once you set up your child's closet so that it suits his or her needs, the next step is to teach the best way to use it. Go through putting clothing and toys away every day for awhile, especially with the little ones. Then ease back into helping your child tidy up the closet once a week. You will find that there are many fewer arguments about a messy room if you take time to help your child organize the closet.