Why I Color Code My Kids

It sounds odd, coloring coding my kids. But hear me out on all my reasons and see if it doesn’t convince you to do something similar. I think I have stumbled upon one of my top parenting hacks.

Whose is this/Not yours

One of the driving reasons to color code my kids is to help teach my oldest the concept of “mine” and “not mine.” Nolan is on the spectrum and does not understand the concept of possession very well. He will take any plate, any drink, any thing. We established colors to try and help Nolan realize to only take his. If he knows Blue and his name is his, we can work on this concept. We can also see from afar (much further away than if we had to look where it came from or what was in it to know) if he has someones that is not his and can remind him “Not yours. That is names color item. Let’s go find Nolan’s blue item.” This also helps teach our youngest whose is whose. He is able to tell you whose cup is whose already, before the age of 2.

When leaving, packing, or collecting everything we need we can also take inventory and know who still needs an item and who has theirs ready to go.

When kids are done eating, we can keep track of who is done who didn’t clean up their plate based on the color as well.

Allergies/Food preferences

My youngest has a dairy intolerance-and his color is green. By color coding, I am able to make sure that nothing dairy goes in/on the green.

My middle does not like dip (ketchup, ranch, etc) at all-and her color is pink/purple. Having them on her plate can lead to a toddler/preschooler freak out, so I can make sure that no dips go on her plate.

Stop the Fight

How many times have you heard about the day being ruined by giving a child the wrong plate? We never have this problem. We don’t find over anything

Things we have color coded:

• shoes
• backpacks
• calendars/schedules
• Placemat
• Plates
• Cups
• Water bottles
• Easter Baskets (and Easter Eggs)
• School supply boxes (for homework at home)
• Pottery Barn Chairs
• Car blankets
• Toy boxes name tags
• Letter for finished places (when they are done eating, they are putting their plate on their letter by the sink to keep the food out of reach from the dogs and available to come back to if they should choose)
• toothbrushes
• towels

It Works!

I stumbled on the color coding by accident when I had a boy and a girl and just bought a blue and a pink of everything, but as it has evolved I have found the many benefits and functionality in it. I have found this to streamline and smooth out my parenting. It has been a great help and I hope if you try it out you share if it was a success in your house, too!