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.

Not uptight at all — wanting a small lounge to stay clear of toys is reasonable. Keep being consistent: toys stay in the orangery or bedrooms, and if they come out, they go straight back. Protecting your space and sanity is totally fair.

I’m with you on this OP! In our house toys live in the play room and the kids bedrooms. Living room is adult and family time space. On the rare occasions toys are brought into the living room they get put away afterwards.

No disrespect to you OP and I bet your orangery is lovely, but this does remind me of the episode of Power Of Parker where everyone had to sit in the couples' new conservatory and admire it.

Oh no don't do the 'play with one thing and put it away before playing with another' thing. That's so sad.

+1 to wtaf is an orangery.

But regardless, YABU. Clutter and stuff lying around comes with the territory with kids. They are doing it because they want to play with and near you, not just be restricted to the one designated room. Just get a couple of big plastic tubs and dump everything back into those at the end of the day if it bothers you that much.

This is my experience too. Rather than banish toys from the living room, making an area in the ‘orangery’ where you would like to sit/hang out, might be a more effective way to keep the toys in the orangery.

An orangery is just a different type of room construction. A teeny tiny house can have an orangery, just like it can have a conservatory or a garden room or a sun room. They are different things.

Have never heard of an orangery

So you just left your baby and toddler in a room upstairs all day on there own unsupervised

Unless you actually grow oranges in it I'd just call it a conservatory personally.

Let the kids play where they like, it's their house too and confining them to certain areas is not fair IMO. They should be free to move around and play and be where ever you are.

I know someone though who kept all the kids toys in the shed and they were only allowed in certain things at a time.

I don’t expect them to play in there independently all the time although to be fair they aren’t bad at playing independently. The main issue is ds to be honest; he just ambles through the house leaving a wave of mess in his wake. Getting him to tidy it has thus far proved unsuccessful and I’m concerned it’s damaging to our relationship to be honest to have me constantly on at him with regard to toys. I feel like a simple rule; bedroom or playroom is easier for him to understand and seems ‘fairer’ somehow, than any other methods. It’s manageable for me this way and reduces conflict.

@SpikeGilesSandwich because it’s me who has to tidy it up!

that may literally be all you have in your room, but I have a desk for WFH. Just because you don’t agree with what I do/did, doesn’t mean you have to be rude.

All toys that include small parts have an appropriately sized zipped storage bag that go with them. So each playmobil set has a zipped bag, each lego set, each puzzle, each game etc.

That helps contain the pieces in our house. I then have a zipped bag for “randoms” rescued from the cats/hoover/stood on in the early hours which they go in to until they are reunited.

My Mum was like you - a place for everything and everything in it's place. Soul destroying. And counter productive. DM didn't like mess so we had to play in our bedrooms and then she complained we never spoke / hung out with her, as we were in our bedrooms.

You have small children - the only way you will have a tidy house is to barricade your children in their bedrooms. There'll be arguments and tears, and to what end ?

What's all this faux shock about orangery? I didn't know what it was, and looked it up - it looks much better than a conservatory or an extension. Sounds much nicer too!
OP, I completely get the issue with toys, but you'll just have to learn to ignore much of the mess - just have a small trunk or box in each room, and chuck things in there every few hours, so stuff's at least out of your sight.

I thought the whole point of the long threads in the property section where people MUST HAVE a playroom area would indicate that people would be supportive of you OP

I agree with you but it would appear you are apparently unreasonable.

I mean, he's five - leaving a trail of mess in his wake is pretty much par for the course. You need to relax.

He's 5. You can't expect him to not leave a trail of mess behind, either you constantly hassle him to keep it tidied up or you just have to unclench a little and accept a bit of mess. I would recommend the latter. In a couple of years he'll grow out of toys.

Just get a big plastic tub and at the end of the day chuck everything into it. Job done.

Do you have your television, stereo, bookcase or phone in this room? If yes, aren’t these toys for grownups? So why not let your children have their toys there too?

Before you know it they’ll be grown up, spending time in their bedrooms and you’ll miss this era you are in. Try to enjoy it and not worry too much about the mess.

We play games to tidy up. Who can pick up the most red things or squishy things and get them in the box fastest

OP/Hyacinth.. you can't have both a "lounge"and an "orangery" at the same time. Far too contradictory. You could have a drawing room with your orangery. Or a conservatory with your lounge perhaps? If you had to.

Also you are being a fusspot about the toys too, Standards of tidiness need to be very low age 5. Otherwise you will find life unbearable.

I think you're fighting a losing battle. Accept the chaos and tidy up together at the end of the day and get them involved. I also agree it's their home and they should be able to play in it freely.

I try and encourage my children to out away current toy before getting out new toy but don't always manage this.

I have an A3 plastic wallet for each toy. When finished playing it gets thrown in there (means you don't have to worry about packing it away properly). I also have a "bits box" for all the random bits. Occasionally I'll sort through it and put the toy pieces back in the correct bags. It's really helps organize and control the mess in my house.

I would imagine she means an orangery because thats what she has. If she had a conservatory I would think she would call it that. Do you not understand what it is?

I've never heard the term orangery!

But yeah, YABVU.

Yessss … I probably do.

The problem is, I can’t. I hate mess: I find it difficult to relax in. The other problem is that mess encourages more mess and then no one can find anything and things get destroyed and broken. I’m honestly not massively anal about things; if I only had DD I could probably be a bit more sanguine about it as she isn’t quite as whirlwindy, but the level of mess ds can cause in a short amount of time just isn’t sustainable so I do have to think about how to manage it.