Raising an Organized Child: 5 Steps to Boost Independence, Ease Frustration, and Promote Confidence

by Damon Korb MD FAAP

Organized children are raised, not born. That’s the philosophy behind this confidence-building, sanity-saving book. Fostering organized thinking in your child will help with concrete concerns (think a tidier bedroom!) and build critical life skills like learning to plan and grasping the big picture. Dr. Korb’s 5 Steps to Raising an Organized Child apply to all ages. So, whether you have an infant or a teenager, it’s never too late (or too early!) to foster organization in him or her and harmony in your whole family. Raising an Organized Child presents specific activities for your child’s age and developmental level to improve executive function. No matter if your child is just your average chaotic kid or struggling with additional challenges like ADHD, you can boost your child’s organization and lower your frustration with Dr. Korb’s guidance.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Education, Self Help, Psychology

236 pages, Paperback

Published June 18, 2019

Reviews

[Elli Pope · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really 3.5 stars.

In general, the information in here is good and helpful. I was disappointed that there was relatively little info for the early child age range. While he dedicated a huge amount of time to babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, the early elementary age was largely overlooked in comparison to the earlier or later years. There were lots of comments about how kids should be able to do X by the time they get to late middle school, but it left me hanging for what I’m supposed to be doing with my 6 and 7 year old kids, where they are just starting homework but aren’t old enough to know how to manage it on their own.

I also got a little annoyed by the author using personal anecdotes of success in his family. Clearly his family is organized because he has two organized parents. As a parent who manages my own stuff fairly well but struggles to manage an entire household, I wish more attention had been given to how to set up systems for people who don’t intuitively know how to be organized.

It was an interesting read with good points, but I’m going to keep looking for more concrete tips on how to help set up early elementary kids for success.

[k4d · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful tips that helped me figure out some right now issues.

[Marya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, sweet, and dare I say it, well organized. There are some editing errors that are difficult to ignore as they trip up the text. Other than that, the information was clearly presented and easy to understand. "Critical thinking" gets a lot of mileage in parenting books and school settings, but not so much on organizational thinking. This book does a good job of explaining why it is so important and relates it well to other concerns many school officials and parents may have. And the author has just a bit of snark. Bonus!

[Carolina Gavilanes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect book for busy overwhelmed parents.
Just by opening the book at any page, I was able to find precise suggestions to implement right away. I enjoyed reading the book, and I am eager to suggest it to my mom friends and clients.

As soon as I started reading the book, I was drawn to read the Great Explorers Chapter and The Years of Great Brain Growth Chapters, because of my daughter’s age.
These chapters helped me: Organize my parenting ideas into the Big 5. Become aware of teachable moments to help my daughter become an organized person. Give my thoughts a place and a reason.

Throughout the book, I was able to relate to real-life examples. I enjoyed reading Chapter 1, Scientific Discovery. No assumption is ever made that specific terms are known and the vocabulary is explained, providing clear, specific meaning in parenthesis or descriptions, to help parents. I think this is a powerful tool to empower parents in raising their children.

It is a book that can guide me throughout my daughter's growth. So, I guess it will stay on my nightstand for a while.

[Mrs C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy book to get into, whether you are a parent of a toddler or a teenager, each age group features the five areas or steps that can help you raise an organized child. The steps look easy: be consistent, put everything in its place, establish order etc. however, it feels harder to actually mobilize. The book also touches up on making use of kids’ time, meaning letting the kids get bored and not use electronic devices. The tone is reassuring and the approach is thorough. This resource will fit nicely in any parenting section at a library.

Access to review copy provided by the publisher.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I interviewed the author Dr. Korb for an article so I wanted to read his book. I like how the book explains the brain science related to organization and then is broken down into developmental sections such as infant, toddler, etc. In each section Dr. Korb first explains the steps of how parents can help their child through each organization phase and then at the end of the section provides helpful checklists.

[Tracy S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a succinct and useful book for any parent who is looking for practical tips to help their children become more organized. I wish there was a bit more substance to it, though; I am trying to understand why my kids (and I) can do certain tasks without any issues, but other, similar tasks are nearly impossible for us. I suppose I was hoping there could be some magical answer to getting my kids out the door faster. But it just comes down to consistency and routines. This is particularly hard if you're an adult who has always struggled with these things, raised by people who also struggled, etc. Not that I blame my parents for my own kids' current struggles, but it's probably a good example of how the effects of a traumatic childhood can ripple through generations. The good news is that the book says with YEARS of consistent effort, you CAN undo early mistakes--so hopefully if I keep trying, my kids will overcome some of these struggles eventually.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has info on helping your kid with organization from toddler through teen. I'm reading the whole thing - it's helpful to know what I should have been doing with them in the preschool years, for example, and how to get them caught up!

It's a great read and eye opening to how your child functions in various areas - I always feel like my second child is coddled and more has been done for her because she's the younger one and I think of her as the less capable one, but in reality she has her stuff together more than her older brother does. She has great spatial processing (now I have a name for her ability to find things in the house better than the rest of us, whether it's a belonging of hers or not!) and even though she moves like a sloth, she is better with routines - which we could chalk up to me having her on a more regimented schedule from 4 months old with sleeping and feeding, whereas I was winging it with my first child until he was a toddler.

[Bev Weiler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is something that the parents I work with have been clamoring for. Executive functioning is a huge topic these days and Dr. Korb does an excellent job of not only explaining brain development in an easily accessible way, but he also delineates stages of development and how that affects executive functioning. In addition, the appendix that addresses children with ADHD and ASD will be exceptionally helpful to parents struggling to figure out how their child will ever be able to develop organizational skills.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every mom and dad can learn a tip or two - or hundreds - from this book! We put the 5-steps into everyday practice with all of our children, and in doing so alleviated many of the common, everyday parenting struggles. Having each concept broken down into suggestions for any age is really helpful too - you can use this book from the time your children are first born until they are off into young-adulthood!

[Nerea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Organized children are raised, not born. Organization skills are part of executive functioning. Damon Korb gives us practical ways we can teach organization so children can be successful adults, who follow through in their projects and know how to break big projects into small.
There is some great info in the book but it is a little repetitive. Easy to relate and put into practice. He suggest different skills depending on the age or level of your children.

[Tiffany DiCarlo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found it so insightful to understand my child’s thought pattern. A lot of my personal frustrations were not understanding his disorganized thoughts due to age, but I have implemented a lot of the suggested strategies to help him grow. We seem to be a lot less frustrated with each other. (We are not on the spectrum, but are super active and adventurous, if that helps with this opinion)

[Carolyn Fitzpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breaks down organized thinking into the micro level skills required, and explains how seemingly unrelated activities at every age level, like playing peek a boo and enforcing a consistent bedtime, actually help organized thinking to develop.

[Avery Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great information about how children's brains develop, particularly how they organize thoughts and ideas. Luke a lot of child development books, it was full of suggestions and tips for each age group. I liked learning about this!

[Sandy Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great beginner read. It goes over the basic at each stage of child development. However if you have somewhat advanced knowledge around child development and organization practices this might feel boring and mundane at times.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up from 3.5 ⭐️ Excellent reference book for each developmental stage but the material repeats needlessly if read all at once. Lots of practical, do-this advice for multiple stages of childhood.

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good read.

[Nomad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the best parenting book I have read. Love the practical suggestions and personal stories. I will use this book now and will keep using it as my child grows older.

[LoLa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice read. Reassured me in my current practices with my daughter and introduced some new ones as she gets older. Took down notes and will refer as needed.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good reminder of going back to the basics. Has some good examples and might be a good one to refer to again as kids reach other age stages.

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read the chapters that pertained to me, but I was unimpressed overall.

[Jane P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremeley helpful ideas for helping kids, including neurodiverse and ADHD ones, succeed.

[Suat Atan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reseach based inspirational book for parents.

[Stephanie Borgeson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read for parents with a child with ADHD.

[Maria Pop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading was great. Now the hard work of putting it in practice

[Carlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This parenting book perhaps has a deceivingly over-simplified title. While we'd all like for our children to be organized in the sense that they have a clean room and perhaps less moldy sandwiches or cookie crumbs in the bottom of their backpacks, rarely does that top our priority list in terms of parenting goals. What Dr. Korb categorizes as organization (in both the physical and mental sense as it's explained in the introduction), we as parents complain of as over-use of screentime, a lack of independence, lack of initiative, poor planning, attention and memory, as well as- of course- messiness.

This graciously short book reads as a how-to manual for both parents of young children who want to set the stage early, and parents who need help with their children already demonstrating these difficulties. It's organized to be referenced time and time again as children grow and mature through different stages. While we have the book How to Raise an Adult, with it's not dissimilar grand view of parenting, Raising an Organized Child manages to be both half the length and four times as detailed as to what we can actually do about that. As a parent, I don't need to be convinced that I want my children to grow up to be capable adults, I need to help getting there when the current parenting trend seems to be #HowToRaiseChildrenWhoLookGoodOnPaperAndInPicturesButCantDoAnythingOnTheirOwn.

[Kate Gold · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a robotic look at raising children; not sure this approach is right for me. https://katieboe.wordpress.com/2021/0...