for asking at what age you can "reclaim" your home from your kids?

[Belladonna666]

By this I mean at what age did you find that you were able to have nice things again (decor, furniture etc) and less kids toys/paraphenalia? I found with my older ds that at around age 4 he stopped destroying everything and we could have nice (expensive/fragile) things again (and he became less interested in toys and more into things like board games/dsi etc). My little one is not yet 2 and is still a little tornado though, so we have not splashed out on anything too expensive (not that we could necessarily afford it). At what age (for kids) were you able to "reclaim" your home?

I never really 'handed it over' so it was never 'reclaimed' if you know what I mean?

The kids adapted to their surroundings and I don't remember any breakages or anything like that.

We've always had a toy box in the conservatory and at the end of each day, the toys were put in there.

You are not being unreasonable to ask?

Same here worra

And op, I agree with ages 4/5. Once school starts....the garden, however, is a different story!

When they start to get into small expensive electronic items Packing this year for 3 weeks worth of entertainment for 2 boys was easy this year, and very compact. 2 kindles, 2 iPods, pack of cards, 2 small pads and a few pens.

Agree with Worra - I never 'allowed' my home to be taken over by plastic tat & toys - I really limited the amount of toys my DS had (yes, I am mean - even to the extent of giving stuff straight to charity shops if he didn't show much interest in it or I didn't like it.

However I visit some friends and relatives and their homes look worse than a toy shop - I really think it is up to the parent to decide how much stuff is allowed in your living room.

Breakages can happen whatever age ............. since my nicest glass vase got broken (by DH !) I tend to avoid having fragile stuff on display.

Worry, we are in a teeny tiny flat, so no conservatory and their room is tiny so all the toys are in the living room. Otherwise it would be a different story and we would have clearer boundaries.

My oldest is 19 and I still haven't managed to reclaim my tv, let alone my home!