When we found out we were having Miss O we decided to turn out front sitting room into a playroom. It seemed like a perfect idea at the time, and I won’t lie, having the extra space has been a real blessing. I’m sure you know how much space toys take up.
The trouble is that the toys don’t generally stay in the playroom. At this point our playroom is more of a toy storage room. Yes, she does play in there for a bit each day, but it’s not long before the toys start to migrate out into the rest of the house.
See, she wants to be where we are. And we don’t want to hang out in the playroom all day. There’s no tv and the internet is spotty in there. I like to work in my comfy chair in the living room, Mr. O likes the couch. So we brought Miss O’s art table into the living room so she can color and paint or play with play dough next to us.
What’s a mom to do?
We adapt.
I’d love to tell you that we have Miss O bring her toys back to her playroom each day, but I do make an effort not to lie. Honestly, most days I want to get through bedtime as quickly as possible more than I want a clean living room. I’d love to say that our toy cleanout solved all our problems. And while it did get rid of a lot of our toy problems, toys equal mess. Always.
Manage the flow. While toys will always find their way into every area of the house, they don’t all have to come out at the same time. We got into a bad habit of just kicking toys aside for a while and there was a pile in every room. Now we make an effort to have Miss O put a toy back when she brings a new one out.
Storage is more important than space. Not everyone has the space for a dedicated playroom, and that’s okay. Yes, it’s nice when Miss O goes off and plays in her playroom by herself for a while, but it’s not necessary. What’s more important is having a place to put all those toys that isn’t the middle of your floor.
Adjust as you go. Now that Miss O is 5, her toys aren’t big jumperoos and playpens, their dolls with teeny tiny shoes and playsets with seemingly hundreds of pieces. We’re making much more use of our toy organizer now and even moving furniture as needed. You can’t get too comfortable.
So, if you don’t have the space in your house for a dedicated play space, don’t fret. Don’t let HGTV fool you, every house with kids has toys all over the place.
