Where should the toys go?

[longjon's_wife]

DH and I can't seem to agree where the toys should stay. Right now, all DS' toys are downstairs in the living room and office (you know, where he plays).

DH seems to think they should all be kept in what will be his room in about two months. I feel that bedrooms should be peaceful settings where one can relax; perhaps having some books and stuffed animals about. I also don't want DS to always be in his room alone playing. I also think it's not practical to expect DS to carry his toys up and down the stairs all day while he gets and puts away his things.

His toys, books, etc. are currently stored on small bookshelves (neatly I might add). I don't see them as a problem.

So tell me, where are the toys in your house?

[mirlee]

We also have toys in many places.

We put a small toy box in the dining room corner, there is a rolling three tiered set of bins in the living room with Schmooey's favorites this month, and the rest of his stuff is in his room.

It really isn't a big deal if there are toys in every room, just as long as they have a home somewhere. I think that is the key. We have also made sure he understands that when he is done with the toy it gets put away.

[Irishmommy]

The playroom and family room. No toys in the bedrooms here.

[Kerlowyn]

We have DS2's toys in 2 places. I work in a home office off my bedroom. DS has toys on our bedroom, because that is where he hangs out and plays while I work.

Downstairs, we have gotten rid of the dining room completely and have put a couch in there, as well as one of those things with 4 bins to hold toys. That is a play room now. The floor is open so he has room to play.

DS1 has everything in his bedroom.

[Parker'smommy]

Originally posted by Irishmommy
The playroom and family room. No toys in the bedrooms here.

thats what i want when we and if we ever get a bigger house so that we can have a playroom.

Currently most of his toys are in the family room and is in one of those organizer bin things. When he gets new toys like for bday and Xmas or whatever it has to fit in the bins so something else has to go. That way we dont get a lot of stuff out here and I feel dds plays better with less choices.

I then rotate his toys every 2 months or so. I keep the rotated toys in teh attic. He does have some toys in his closet in his room as they are too big to have out like the big bin of megablocks and his little racetrack for his cars, and his tool bench.

In a perfect world I would like the majority of the toys to be in a playroom with books and a few small toys in the living room. I just hate all the clutter in our very small family room. Maybe one day.......

[USAmma]

Most of dd's toys are either in our office or in the garage in boxes (we rotate them out). She's allowed to keep a couple stuffed animals and a couple toys out at at time. The rest she has to take out one or two at a time and put those away before she can get other ones. It really cuts down on the mess factor, and she enjoys the toys more fully because she focuses on them without the distraction of a million other toys in the same vicinity.

In her room she has a bookshelf crammed with books, and her dollhouse. She can always have free access to those, esp. the books.

Darshani

[gristastic]

ljs_wife,

feel free to tell me to shove it, but I didn't see anyone else bring this up, so I thought I'd ask.

I saw that the room in question is also the office. Perhaps the issue for dh isn't so much that he wants the toys in ds's room, but rather that he wants the "office" to be his own space. Does he have any space in the house that he considers his own?

DH and I have a room each to do with as we see fit. I know that this may not be possible for every family, and that it may seem selfish to a wonderful, generous mamma such as yourself, but maybe dh just needs to feel like he has some kind of space that is only for him. It might be really good for him, even if he never uses it.

No matter how much I hate it, I keep having to remind myself that dh is just a big kid, himself and he still needs to keep his autonomy even though we're trying to grow into a family unit.

HTH! Good Luck.

[bunnybartlett]

Children prefer

to play in the room you are in.If you move all the toys to their room I think they will not be as likely to go play independantly.We have the majority of DD toys in living room and kitchen.Her room has a few toys but mostly books and stuffed animals.

BTW, my hubby likes HIS room ...DD calls it daddys room and she visits him there and a few toys straggle in with her but we always return them to the rest of his house.Men need to hide in their cave every so often.LOL

Linda

[longjon's_wife]

Gris - the only reason we call it the "office" is because it houses our computer and all of our household files! It's actually supposed to be the master bedroom. When we became pregnant, I wanted to move our bedroom upstairs so that all the bedrooms would be together. This was when I ignorantly thought DS would be in his own room!

I hear what you're saying on the personal space. Unfortunately, this house isn't very big, so the rooms usually pull double duty. I will bring up the issue with DH about having his own spot, if you will. We both agree that this house isn't designed for the way we live. Maybe we can carve out a space for just him somewhere. Thanks for the viewpoint!

[mommasuz]

My son's room IS the playroom, there is no bed in there. DH also will periodically put every toy in there and ask us to bring one toy out at a time but with a 1 year old that just doesn't happen. We usually have one big toy out and several small ones, and he will play with what's out. Our house is small so we can't have toys everywhere or there wouldn't be any room for us but I like to have some toys in each room. I need to get a basket for each room so everything is tidy.

[whateverdidiwants]

We had this argument as well, and finally got a big wooden toy box for the living from Ikea that we could throw everything in at the end of the day. Bedrooms are for sleeping (and sex), period. One major cause of insomnia is people using their bedrooms for recreation, because their brains develop other associations for the room besides sleep. We stil co-sleep and make it a point to only have the bed, the nightstand, and a few bookshelves in the bedroom.