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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

That even if we had room we wouldn't have a playroom

73 replies

yellowflowers · 16/09/2010 10:23

Lots of my friends seems to have playrooms for their toddlers. Our house isn't big enough - we have three bedrooms and a large living room which also has a table and chairs in it but even if we had more rooms it would be an office or a quiet room for our books and piano. Plus I am not sure I want our kids to have that many toys, and I want them and their playing to be part of the general house not confined to one room. Am I the odd one though?

OP posts:

LutyensCBA · 16/09/2010 10:26

We have a playroom because it's the one room which doesn't have to be tidy. DD can bring her toys in and out as she wishes, but at the end of the day it's fantastic to just throw the toys into the playroom and shut the door!

Also when friends come over with their children, it's easier to send the kids off to the playroom to do their own thing, and we can sit in the living room or around the kitchen table and have a peaceful natter.

I heart my playroom

rachelkarengreene · 16/09/2010 10:27

We have a playroom (was the dining room which was never used). It has been a godsend on the days when I just can't pick up another toy and I can just shut the door and deal with the mess in the morning. They know they can have their toys wherever in the house but they go back to the playroom at night. Do they need the playroom, no. Do I, yes.

nikki1978 · 16/09/2010 10:28

YABU I love having a playroom! It is so much easier to keep the place tidy as all the toys are confined to one room. They have a sofa and tv in there, bookcase with lots of books, little table and chairs plus a big makign box with arts and crafts stuff so it is not just toys. They do play throughout the house - they make dens in the living room with sheets, they play in their room, they play in the garden. It's not like I tell them to stay in there and not come out! It is just nice to have a room for the toys. But most people don't have room for one and it is not a necessity but it is not a bad thing!

irishma · 16/09/2010 10:29

If I had a spare room..it would be a library, for ME no-one else!!!

I think playrooms have their use..we had one when we were kids but there were a lot of us. I have one kid and thats the way its going to stay. He has his own room he can bring his friends to..thats enough for them.

nikki1978 · 16/09/2010 10:29

I don't have a dining room either - when the kids are this young I would prefer to have a play room and eat in the kitchen. I will have dinner parties when they are older!

sumum · 16/09/2010 10:31

I would love a play/family room esp now the dcs are getting older, I would prefer them downstairs then up on thier own in the bedrooms. I would love them to have sleep only bedrooms, a playroom would enable this.

booyhoo · 16/09/2010 10:33

we have 3 bedrooms but the boys share the bigger room so that the box room can be their playroom, but tbh i think it would have been better as storage for all my ebay stock because as a playroom it is literally a tip and as much as i tidy it, it just gets messy as quickly. i need to get rid of most of the toys.

yanbu

SexyDomesticatedDad · 16/09/2010 10:34

Possibly the main reason we bought this house was the playroom (and other rooms)in the basement. Playroom has various toys for younger ones, pool table, train sets you can leave out and also clear it all up once in a while and put out huge scalextric so all boys can play. DS 2 can also get his band down there for abit of practise - all Feeder type stuff and pretty loud!

Also used the area for kids parties and such like - tis great .

Fimbo · 16/09/2010 10:34

My ds has a playroom as he has a much smaller bedroom than dd. It is supposed to be the dining room which I will claim back when he is a bit older.

ShrimpOnTheBarbie · 16/09/2010 10:37

We live in a very open-plan house (kitchen, dining and living all together) with one small room off it on the way to the children's and spare room (it's a 'queenslander' - so all on one level but raised off the ground). And the small room is NOT a play room. It is a reading room. And I have a lovely couch and my laptop in there. I love it. My elder DD puts her toys back in her bedroom at the end of the day and has plenty of outside space filled with her things.

BeenBeta · 16/09/2010 10:37

As others have said, one of the main criteria for choosing a house is that the DSs have a room of their own to play/work in. They have their own bedroom with an ensuite and eat and watch TV in the kitchen.

They are not allowed in most of the rest of the house unless we are with them. It keeps mess and dirt in one place.

pagwatch · 16/09/2010 10:38

Nothing wrong with playrooms although I wouldn't use one for a toddler really - the Dcs would play near me upstairs rather than me have to go to the playroom to play.
But once they are bigger it is great.

And lol at don't want too many toys and wanting them to be in the general house...wait until teenagers has five friends over playing wi, DD has every item of clothes she owns involved in a dress up game and other Dcs are making a hide out in the kitchen.

I would like a lock for my playroom sometimes

mistletoekisses · 16/09/2010 10:54

YABU

We love our playroom. And just because we have one, of course it doesnt mean it is the only place they play. Whichever toys they want can moved around. So long as they are put away at the end of the day. Keeps the mess confined to one room.

Original poster

yellowflowers · 16/09/2010 11:17

Ah I am unreasonable. I knew it. Just jealous of the extra space probably. When they reach teenagerdom if we have a bigger garden by then I was thinking they could have a shed!

OP posts:

FreakoidOrganisoid · 16/09/2010 11:22

We used to have one but it was more a toy storage room, they'd bring the toys into the rest of the house rather than playing in there (don't blame them it was dark and cold in there!)

4plus1 · 16/09/2010 11:24

We are very victorian! Our playroom is the top floor of the garage which is accessed by a staircase in the utility room. The 5 dc are neither seen or heard. I just trust the older ones to keep an eye on the wee ones.

notquitenormal · 16/09/2010 11:29

We have a play room. It has all our books, the game console, DH's bass equipment and my computer...it is NOT for chilren!

DastardlyandSmugly · 16/09/2010 11:30

We have one and agree with others who say it's a godsend. The DCs are allowed to bring toys out of it but tend to confine the majority of their mess there. It's at the end of my kitchen, which is where I spend most of my time, so I'm pretty much there with them.

cupofcoffee · 16/09/2010 11:46

we have a playroom. The dc are by no means confined to it, in fact they see the whole house as one giant play area .

I find ours useful as it is somewhere to store the toys away at the end of the day. Of the many toys they have only a few were bought by me and the rest have collected from family/friends over birthdays, xmas, etc.

Also when people come over and there are a lot of kids it is useful to be able to send big kids in there so babbies/toddlers can be safe to roll around the lounge floor.

conkie · 16/09/2010 12:59

When my son was born I was adamant I didn't want or need a playroom. He is now nearly 3 and I am currently begging my husband to turn the spare room into one.

partyhats · 16/09/2010 14:21

playrooms are great, ours is not full of toys they also have a table and chair for their crafts, painting etc. As they get older I shall be turning it into a study/somewhere they can do their homework.

ProfYaffle · 16/09/2010 14:28

We have a playroom but it's nigh on impossible to get the dc to play in it! It's upstairs and a 'thoroughfare room', you have to go through it to get to the dd's bedrooms. Pre-dc it was a study, now it's a playroom (but has dh's desktop in there too) and when they're older we'll turn it into a second sitting room for the dc.

It's a godsend for us because we only have a tiny living room so the extra storage space etc is really handy but they still prefer to play in whichever room I'm in.

TheReturnoftheSmartArse · 16/09/2010 14:30

Iwouldn't have wanted a playroom. I wanted my little DCs to be in the same room as me, so we could chat whilst they played. Keeping the mess contained in one room would have been nice, though! Now that they are older (teens) we have the TV in the kitchen and they are only allowed to use their laptops in the kitchen too, because that's where I usually am (unfortunately!). It means that we can chat. Which they do. Constantly!

SweetKate · 16/09/2010 14:35

I got v fed up last week when I went to a friends new house and found out she was the fourth one I know in our area with a playroom. TBH her girls don't play in there really as they spend most of their time either in the garden or in the kitchen/diner with Mum. However, it does mean that all their toys are in one place and out of sight. In our house we have boxes of toys in the living room and dining room and sometimes I just want to scream at them! I was looking at photos of our house pre-kids the other day and our dining room looked huge without the horrid boxes of toys. We don't have large amounts but with a boy and girl they have naturally gravitated towards different toys.

I would love a playroom - but not necessarily to keep the kids in for playing but to save my sanity ....

novicemama · 16/09/2010 14:36

YABU I LOVE our playroom, it was the first room we decorated when we moved in and it's ace. I've put in some comfy chairs for parents to sit and drink tea, all DDs toys and books are in there and not scattered all over the house (I am anal, I don't like tripping over toys all the time) and DH and I now have a proper adult lounge which is completely toy-free for us to relax in in the evenings.

It's nice to have a bedroom just for sleeping in and toys elsewhere, and I'm thinking that it's usage will change as DC get older and want to use it for sleepovers, watching telly, doing homework etc.

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