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.

What is the appeal of the lounge? Why do they want to play there specifically instead of other rooms? Change whatever that is so it is in the designated play areas.

That’s exactly what it is. Or was, originally. Stately houses.

An orangery is different to a conservatory, though? It’s made of brick and has a proper roof, for a start!

I am uptight about the toys and I’ve tried to relax a bit but the mess that can be made in minutes is quite something 😂

The orangery (sorry to the person that amused, but that’s what it is!) is really spacious and they each have their own rooms as well. It’s just I have maybe two free hours each day and spending it tidying is depressing. Much easier if it’s all contained!

We always preferred the Camellia House.

We don’t have a stately home, but we do have an orangery!

Indeed it is <wonders if I should take a photo!>

How many oranges did you pick this year?

Orangery! Do you mean conservatory?

YABVU for calling it that, also YABVU in not realising that kids like their toys and they should be allowed to play with them in the living areas.

Your set-up sounds exactly the same as mine OP, except my children slept in bedrooms upstairs.

I had a one toy in/one toy out rule, which worked pretty well most of the time.

So the orangery isn’t a conservatory. I don’t personally care what it is and if it makes MN happy to call it a conservatory, let’s just call it a conservatory. It is a bit different though <pedantic> conservatories are all glass and this isn’t. Anyway

Mine sleep upstairs as well!

An orangey is different to a conservatory.

You can’t have an orangery and a lounge in the same house. You must start calling your lounge the sitting room or drawing room. Or demolish the orangery.

If the kids ask to bring more than one toy in from the orangery

Tell them the man from Delmonte says yes 🤣

<< desperately showing age here >>

If the appeal of the lounge is they just feel connected to the house and family, have you tried just filling in the lounge area with concrete?

They want to be with you, so their toys will travel wherever you go. As you leave the room and DC follows, send him back to get his toy and bring it with him.

Yes, we need a photo.

I think you need to let go of the idea that everything should always be in its place at any one time. When you tidy up it doesn’t need to be perfect, just sweep it all up into a basket and put it back in the playroom. If there’s anything obvious to put away more specifically and easy to do, fine, but don’t get caught up in it. It sounds like you’re getting stressed at putting individual pieces back in each box at the end of each day and that’s taking up a load of your time only to get ruined the next day. No one cares about this level of tidiness other than you. Just do it once a week with the children and make an activity of it, eg “let’s sort the basket of random toys”.

Eyerolling at people think they are being snarky and clever when an orangey and a conservatory are different things.

They’re only young once is all I’m going to say

Let them be, teach them to tidy their toys away after they’re finished playing.

This is true.

They may well be different things, but I have never in my life heard anyone actually call it an orangery in conversation

just tidy up after

and orangery 😳