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

Pediatrician and father of five Korb presents a useful and simple-to-follow set of steps for parents to take to foster organizational skills in their children. Korb provides suggestions and tasks geared to four main age groups—infants, preschoolers (3–5 years), school-age children (5–12), and teenagers—for both parent and child. However, for each age group, the “five steps” remain the same: “be consistent,” “introduce order,” “give everything a place,” “practice forward thinking,” and “promote problem-solving.” Throughout, Korb includes scripts for productive parent-child conversations and skill-developing games geared to different ages. Korb also traces how, as children advance in age and organizational skills, parental roles change, from “coach” to school-age children to “manager” for middle schoolers, and “consultant” for high schoolers. Korb’s examples are educational, especially one he shares to illustrate overbearing parenting—that of a couple who gave their high schooler son, on average, five hours of help with homework each night, resulting in disaster when he left the parental umbrella and entered college. Korb thus shows both how adults can help and when and why they need to let “go of control.” The result is a kind, supportive guide that parents and children alike can profit from as they grow together. (June)

Correction: An earlier version of this review misspelled the author's last name in several instances.