If you're a parent of children past the age of two, you've already discovered one very important thing: kids are slobs. Almost every child will drop clothing wherever they shed them, kick off shoes (notwithstanding dirt and mud), and otherwise do their best to undo all the cleaning you've done over the past several days.



It's not their fault; children are in many ways tiny barbarians, waiting to be civilized by parents (mostly, let's admit it, moms). Instead of fighting the constant futile battle of pick-up-your-stuff, make it easy for them to keep things neat. Install coat racks, not just at the front door, but in other strategic locations, and make the idea of hanging things on handy pegs fun.

Start with an appropriate height. Let your child help you determine the right height by showing you where he or she can stretch to in order to hang things up; that's the level you want to hang the coat rack. Get putty, too; ideally, you should raise the coat rack periodically to keep it challenging for the child to hang his or her coat (challenges are fun for children if they can always defeat them), and you'll need to fill in the old holes as you make new ones.

Next, consider color. You may not be able to find a fully-made coat rack in bright colors that appeal to your child; instead, get an unfinished one, and paint it to suit yourself. Make each peg the favorite color of one child, or just paint them in different bright primary colors. Label pegs (above, not below) with the names of children, the names of colors, or numbers, whatever is most appropriate to the child. Your brightly-colored and labeled coat rack can be a teaching tool as well as a functional piece of furniture.

Use more than one coat rack as well. You can have one at the front door, one at the back door, one in the bathroom, and one in the child's room, each with different functionality. Let the child help you decide which items go to which peg and which coat rack, and make allowances for eccentricity; children love to experiment, and if she wants to put her winter coat in her bedroom (because she loves it) and her purse in the bathroom, let her do it. The rule should simply be that items need to be put where the labels designate; you can work on appropriateness later.

Another great item to use along with coat racks is a small storage shelf (divided into cube-shaped cubbies) beneath them. Here, you can put galoshes, shoes, small outdoor items like gardening tools or outdoor toys, bath toys, or whatever else goes with the items hanging on the pegs above and needs a storage space. For a unique look, paint the outside of the storage shelf white but paint the insides of storage cubes bright primary colors to match the pegs above.

You'll quickly find that not only do these items of children's furniture look great, they are perfect for teaching basic neatness habits, and your child will love them. Personalize them with love.