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.

Your DC are only young enough to play with ‘toys’ for a short period of time.
Just go with the flow & relax. As others have said, it’s their home too.
Don't be one of those DP remembered for always having an immaculate home (with Orangery) but not allowing toys or untidiness.
Soon enough they’ll be outgrowing what they enjoy playing with now.

Oxford dictionary says "Similar to a conservatory but where oranges are grown".

If you had a really good orangery you could entertain the kids by making fresh jaffa cakes.

The appeal is probably that it is the main room in the house (‘living room’), and is comfortable and probably where their mum is and they want to be with her?
Sorry op but your house sounds a bit miserable tbh

Every time they bring them into the lounge just redirect them back to the playroom.

I deliberately got rid of any toys with lots of small parts (I say it’s because they’re not safe for the baby, but it also makes tidying up so much easier).

No I think PP are mainly cringing on OPs behalf that she's choosing to use this term to describe what most people would likely call a bog standard conservatory.

An orangery may not technically be a conservatory but unless its attached to a sprawling pile of a stately home, it matters not. A glass contraption attached to an ordinary house is basically a conservatory in most people's eyes.

Cringing at the idea that you talk about "the orangery" in real life, out loud, in front of other humans, OP.

I’ve never heard of a house having an orangery unless it was a stately home. OP obvs has ideas above her station. 🤣

We had a playroom too but weren’t precious about where toys were played with. I did expect them to go back to the playroom at the end of the day though!

So if your conservatory has a brick base, it's an orangery? Blimey I think estate agents are missing a trick there ...

Sorry I can't get past "orangery"🤣🤣🤣

I think it’s fine to keep a room as an adult space. This was the sitting room for us. Obviously, we weren’t draconian about it, but they had a big playroom, their bedrooms and the kitchen/dining area/family room (where we all tend to spend most of our time) to use for toys - this was enough.

As an aside, I’m surprised at all the orangery comments. We’re quite unusual amongst our neighbours as we haven’t got one!

One thinks very highly of oneself😂😂

It’s just I have maybe two free hours each day and spending it tidying is depressing. Much easier if it’s all contained!

But why would you need 2 hours to tidy ?
You just have a "tidy up time" - set a timer or tidy to a particular song - and help the dc put everything away or into a big box that gets carried out of the living area to the play area. Do it as routine before bedtime each day. Sorted.

I love an orangery, conservatories are naff but a good orangery is a lovely addition.

You are completely unreasonable to expect children to play in it exclusively though. Let them be, the period of toys is so short. You need to unclench @ohnononofenton or you will be creating an unpleasant childhood. They should be able to play anywhere.

Tidying up is something to teach though. We have the tidy up song on and it all gets put back.

I know you won't think so now but there will be a time when you miss tripping over toys all the time. Is there room in the lounge to put a play table so that toys are off the floor?

We used to live in a house with an orangery - it's the correct term for a conservatory type extension that has a proper roof on it. But we used to call it the sun room because people get all funny about orangery lol (as you can see here).

As for the actual issue - it's kind of sad if children can't play in their own home. And they probably do just want to be near you. But I get your annoyance at toys being left there to clutter it up.

How about just letting them bring in 1 or 2 toys at a time if they are playing with them. But they have to return those to the orangery or their bedroom before they bring more in. It's a good thing to encourage them to tidy up after themselves.

Is this Mrs hinch 😆

Yabu

OK, I'll bite. What is an orangery? Do you really have a room with orange trees in it? Wow, I'm impressed.
I think most of us would call it a conservatory, or garden room perhaps - but you go for it 😀

I voted against the crowd here (YANBU). It's your house and I don't see why children shouldn't have rules - some rooms can be messy and some rooms have to be kept (relatively) tidy. I don't see anything wrong with that (though I shall probably now get told by the 84% you think YABU 😀).

Is this Mrs hinch 😆

Yabu

Sorry I am too laughing at the repeated use of orangery Whatever happened to just a playroom?! Glass walls or not.

Anyway, it’s normal, just use it for storage and tidy the stuff back up at the end of the day. Kids want to be where the rest of the family are at that age. As long as it has a home out of the way when it’s finished with, I wouldn’t mind. Our playroom is great for storage but it doesn’t get played in much v the other rooms as it’s a bit out of the way of the ‘heart’ of the house.

I couldnt imagine "redirecting" little kids back to a playroom when they just want to play in what they have clearly sussed out is a family area 😭 it sounds like something out of a crap christmas movie where the kids end up with a mischievous nanny who finally gets the parents to unclench 🤣

Mine has a playroom - a room right next door to living room. And own bedroom.
He still plays 95% of the time in living room.

I think it’s fine. Around 7.30pm each evening we all have a tidy up. Dh and I help Ds tidy toys back into playroom but Ds has to help, and we tidy up anything else together at the same time ie tea cups, fold blankets etc. By 8pm we are upstairs sorting ds for bed and robot hoover on go in living room. Ds knows random left toys get eaten by hoover

Cringe away, call it what you want, it really doesn’t make any difference to me shall we move on?

I am really trying to not exactly keep things perfect but definitely to stop things being lost / ruined. My younger child’s frustration when she tries to do a puzzle with pieces missing is something to behold. As they are getting older they are more into things like board games and puzzles which is fine but dragging them into the lounge is a bit of a recipe for disaster. For example one of their favourite toys is a wooden pizza with the toppings and I’ve lost track of the number of times we’ve ‘lost’ the toppings (I can’t believe it’s still going, to be honest.)

My DS just won’t/can’t tidy which is a big part of the problem. I’m wavering very much whether there are some additional needs there or not. But it’s a highway to nowhere and so for the sake of our relationship and to be honest my sanity I have had to accept that for now tidying by him isn’t happening.

Yes, she’s chosen this term because it’s an orangey and NOT a conservatory. Takes two minutes to educate yourself on the difference.

It’s probably easier to unclench if a nanny is going to be putting them away!