To not want toys brought into the lounge?

[ohnononofenton]

So in context, our downstairs area is all open plan. There’s a smallish lounge, a dining room and then an orangery. The children’s toys and games are in the orangery and their bedrooms.

They both but especially my five year old keep bringing them into the lounge. I hate it. It’s mostly because the lounge is on the small side so quickly gets full, toys get trampled on, end up under the sofa and the TV unit. I end up skidding on toy cars and parts of tool boxes all the time.

I am trying to be quite firm about keeping toys in the orangery or bedrooms. Or is this just too uptight? It’s an ongoing battle keeping the house fairly tidy and I don’t do a bad job but it is a lot of work.

Make tidying up after they've played with things part of the routine, but the house is their home - let them live in it.

Very uptight, let it go. Just tidy them up before dinner or whenever. It won't last forever.

We have a playroom and toys in their bedrooms and toys spill into the lounge, kitchen….

ivtry to keep them in one area but realistically it doesn’t happen. I just keep telling myself that I’ll miss the toys one day. Tricky when you’re standing on Lego and hotwheels and glaring at Barbies, but as my mum says it’s ’clean mess’ and only a very small window of time.

i absolutely share the frustration though!

YABU for using the term "orangery" unless you live in Chatsworth House.

If it's like a conservatory, it's probably bloody freezing at this time of year, and of course your kids would prefer to be around family than in their bedrooms. They'll eventually grow out if it.

I suppose it depends where you spend your time.

If you aren't in the lounge much then I don't suppose it matters. But if you use that as your main living area then it seems a bit sad for your kid(s).

Mind you, I don't fancy slipping on a car either. So I guess I am on the fence!

Just make them tidy up before bed.

That's very normal. They want to play near you.

Just make sure they tidy-up afterwards, even if it's just popping everything into a box to carry back to the toy room.

Personally we let it happen - we had a playroom but sometimes the kids preferred the lounge! If you do allow it, enforce some rules - all toys in a box at the end of the day etc.

Orangery 😂😂😂😂

Start a toy time out for toys left in the lounge that are not played with. I think it’s fair to let them play in there but if they leave their toys in there confiscate them for a couple days. Needs to be a clear box in sights or they won’t be reminded they lost toys and just play with something else

Yeahhhhh … that’s not working. I know, ideally it should but it just doesn’t.

orangery 😂😂😂

Well, that’s … what it is am I supposed to call it a coal shed or something?

If they don’t like the “orangery” (what is it??) why don’t you make that the toy-free space instead of the lounge?

nowt strange about an orangery. It’s a recognised type of room. Like a conservatory but without the glass roof!

Not heard orangery before. Sounds like something that’s outside to grow oranges! 🍊 off to google!

Ahh I feel a little bit sad at the thought of small children not being allowed to play in their own lounge 😔 you are being way too uptight.

Puzzled as to why you had children. Is it not their home as well? If you are uptight about toys being spread about, you won't survive the teenage years. Relish a happy messy home full of love, it soon goes.

But also - with all the organisation in our house and separate rooms, the kids still want to fit into the small lounge and all their toys end up all over the place. The only thing I’m strict on is that art stuff and play doh stays in dining room where there is a hard floor

I'd just let them play with toys wherever really as it's their home too. My lounge was/is always full of toys but when it was stuff like cars and lego and little bits and bobs, I just got a huge toy box for the lounge and everything went in there at the end of the day.

That’s a bit much! 😂

I think the main issue is that it ends up being odds and sods from the toy box, so a pair of pliers from DS’s tool box or a few stray blocks. That’s what annoys me to be honest. Then they end up lost. I’m just trying to keep everything in order. I had a massive clear out just after Christmas and things are a lot more manageable now but it’s still a battle.

Ohh, that's what it is! I thought it was where people stored their orangutans...

Replied to wrong post…

It’s “orangerie”, Hyacinth 🍊

Kids want to hang out where the heart of the home is, however nice a
playroom or ‘orangery’ you have. Don’t do this.

Just let them play with one thing at a time and swap it out for the next?