Decluttering for Teenagers

Most parents complain at some time or another about the mess of their teenager's rooms. As parents ourselves we can empathise - it seems that even if you go in and clean and tidy for them, their rooms are back in a mess within 12 hours. And of course the intrusion on their space is rarely welcomed!

Teenagers have a lot going on - there are academic expectations, choices for their future, friendships to maintain,non-cluttered and in more recent years, social media to keep up with. It’s no wonder that they cannot concentrate on keeping a room tidy too.

It can help to understand exactly why teenagers tend to have messy rooms and to realise thay they are not necessarily being deliberately unhelpful.

To some extent, the messy room phase can be seen as simply a stage in their development. Because of the way the human brain develops, the prefrontal cortex does not develop fully until the age of around 25. This part of the brain is responsible for planning, organising and decision making. So it's fair to say that in some ways they literally can't help it!

Having said all of that, you may of course feel that you would like to encourage your teens to be tidier. After all, they live in your house, and you want it to be at least reasonably presentable, plus of course learning to keep their own space tidy and organised is