Where do your children play?

[emkana]

Since I've had children I haven't got a living room anymore, only a play room in which I'm allowed to watch TV at night. It is filled to the brim with toys, and dd1 (nearly 3) and dd2 (9months) only ever play there, unless I'm somewhere else, in which case they'll play where I am. Admittedly the so-called children's room isn't very exciting - we never got round to decorating it, it only got a changing table, a sofa and wardrobes in it, no bed as we're all co-sleeping. And hardly any toys, as they're all downstairs! At the moment it would feel strange for the children to play upstairs while I'm downstairs in the living room, but at what age/stage do children start to want to play by themselves? Am I being a terrible mother for not providing a more appealing room for my children to play in on their own?

Why dont you give the room a lick of paint and put up a 'fun' border to make the room more appealing? My ds is 2 and he doesnt play upstairs either. I have put lots of his toys in a cupboard in his room and try to rotate them as he has too many and seems overwhelmed by what to play with!

On a different thread....do you all sleep together? Does it work well?? Can you sleep with 2 wriggly children?

I don't think children want to play upstairs on their own until they are a bit older. Mine are 4 and 5 and only really starting to play upstairs (usually together)now. We are fortunate to have a second 'grown-ups' sitting room from which the children are banned So we can spend our evening in a toy-free environment.

I used to have that at my old house. So i know how you feel about toys everywhere in the sitting room. we have converted out dining room for the time being for a toy room, so i can still see them, but no toys really come into the living room. My two are 5 and 4 and have only just started playing upstaires but i get paranoid and think they are up to something they shouldn't. lol

DSs are 5 and 3 and now play upstairs sometimes. We are also lucky anough to have a playroom having sacrificed the formal dining room.

DD is 25 months. She plays in her bedroom and in the living area mainly at hoome. they are next door to each other though so really easy to keep an eye on her. Most of her toys are in her room (somehow!!!) but we also have some - her Happy Land stuff - behind the sofa which I get out for her when she wants it. We also have her desk in the living area too.

DD often plays on her own with her toys or at crayoning. She enjoys her own little world of tea parties and kitchens with her dollies when at home. i sometimes get an invite I think it is her way of having peace, after days at nursery of non stop socialising.

My dd was about 5 when she really started to like playing in her room, but before that we had gradually reduced the toy shop which was our living room. Now the only permanent toys of hers down here are her arty/crafty things. She brings down stuff to play with but it is returned to her room later.
But when she was 5.5 we had ds, so only had a few months of a toy-free living room. Now he's 16m and the living room once more is a clutter of primary coloured plastic. (The only room free of any toys is the loo
I do envy my friends who have a second adult room but whaat the hell it doesn't last long. I do make a point though of clearing all the toys into the corner at the end of the day, so I'm not forever tripping over tous.

do they need all these toys? why not put some of them away and rotate them from time to time. we use some good toy boxes (from Homebase, about £35 for 3 made of some sort of grass - have no idea what the term is, but the boxes look nice and are very good quality). My little one doesn't really play in her room on her own (very, very rarely) but she does keep herself busy downstairs. things like painting, colouring, stickers, glueing, chalk keep her occupied for a long time. she also likes playing with a small doll's house she's got but it really depends on her mood. so your children might not use their room upstairs on their own, but at least you could put most of the toys in there to get more space in the living room perhaps.

We have lots of storage boxes for toys too - very cheap from IKEA. Ours are all bright pink, with added girly stickers. But they come in all sorts of colours, and you can get casters for them too, and they stack.

Ds tends to paly near wherever I am. He has a lovely bedroom and a play room but he will only stay in them if I am with I him. He mostly does drawing and colouring on the kitchen table as I spend so much time in the kitchen.

Mine have always wanted to play near me until at least school age. We've lived in houses with a playroom but all that meant was a continual trail of toys from playroom to sittingroom. Dd2 has toys in the play/computer room, in the dining room, in the sittingroom, while dh and I squeeze into the family room if we want to watch tv!! Some mistake, surely?? Tbh, we have so much stuff that needs decluttering that it's hard to tell where toys stop and junk begins.

In our old house my ds had his own playroom because we had 2 living rooms. Now we've moved to a new house, still have 2 living rooms but I run my business from the second one. Our family room has our kitchen, dining and TV area all in one and is mostly tiled. Ds and I hang out in there together all day. I'll miss him when he's old enough to play in his room. We have toyboxes everywhere, including our bedroom, which we rotate.