Is a playroom necessary?

[cleaninglady]

or indulgent?

have recently moved house and have ds 22months and dd 4 1/2 - last house had conservatory disguised as Early learning centre due to the total overtake of toys until it surrended and became the official playroom. didnt want to do the same here although do have a "family room" as well as living room and have now been told by SIL and friend that its mean as just have toys in about 4 baskets and it doesnt look like a playroom (they both have very OTT ones!) made me think though - this is more the norm nowadays isnt it and should I give in?!

In my experience, the more they have the less they play with and they only end up getting thrown around the room. I would have a couple of toy baskets and keep the rest in their bedrooms and bring stuff up and down stairs to make a change.

well goodness only knows what your SIL and friend would make of my flat as DD doesn't even have a separate bedroom, let alone playroom! they would think she's living in severe deprivation.

basically it's not MEAN FFS, they're probably just jealous of the 4 baskets and the current tidiness. Set up your house however it suits you and ignore them - they need to get a grip

I don't think it's a necessity. As long as children have somewhere to play and be happy that should be enough

Is is a bit of an indulgence in that I suspect the majority of families don't have room for one anyway.

like secondhand rose I agree about the more they have the less they play with. DS used to have an absolute ton of toys both downstairs and upstairs but last dec before DD was born I did a huge clear out and moved toys upstairs and anything that didnt fir upstairs had to fit into one big wicker basket with lid or it was going to charity shop. I must admit it was actually quite liberating.

However if I had a seperate living room I may use it as a toy room as I have a 2 yr old a 6mth old and am pg again so I really wouldnt know until I had it iykwim.

In our old flat we made sure that there were some toys in each room, so that the LOs didn't make too much mischief with 'our' things. But we always planned to have a playroom when we moved. Now we have one and I'm so pleased! It means that we have an opportunity to have relatively toy-free 'grown-up' rooms. We still find ourselves gathering toys up from around the house, but the children have so muchmore freedon with how they play. Toys get rotated as we have tall shelves in the playroom, so they can't reach everythign down by themselves. Some toys live in their bedroom in any case.

I don't think it's necessary, it just makes life easier for you really.

Tbh, our playroom does my head in - it's permanently messy because 'the beauty' of it is that you can shut the door on it so it never gets tidied!

In fact, I've just rallied the troops and we've tidied it tonight. The fact that I've put things back in their place and put the playmobil stuff back together again has reminded them it exists and they've spent the last half hour playing really nicely with it together. I think it's a great idea to have different toys in different places or even hidden away so you can bring them out at intervals. Half our stuff doesn't get played with cos there's so much of it and it's all over the shop!

Give over! I didn't have a playroom and neither do my children, who are a similar age to yours. We keep dressing up clothes and train set downstairs, the rest up in their bedroom (they share, the cruelty!) and bring boxes down in rotation. If ds (4.10) wants to get away from his little sister he plays in their bedroom. If you want one and have space for one then go for it, but I like the idea of a family room myself.

My ideal house would have one, but in the meantime I have to make do with my living room looking like Toys R Us.

Once we get properly settled in (still living in box-land ATM) our playroom will be more of a family room, as it's open-plan into our study area. It's so damn luxurious after our flat! But ds and dd still share a bedroom.

Definitely not a necessity - and you are not being mean! We will never be able to afford a house big enough to set aside an entire room for children's toys. DD keeps most of her toys in her bedroom, and some in boxes in the kitchen and the living room. Works fine for us.

hhmmm interesting.....!
i know im lucky in having the choice but i have found that we dont even use the "best" living room as family room cosier anyway which is why i dont want to go the whole hog with the playroom thing i suppose ("artistic" pictures on wall etc etc)
and then when friends come round (who all have children we stay in it anyway so even then we dont show off our best room and how stylish and tidy i am (choking fit commences)
like the tall shelves thing as that could look quite tidy and i could chose what they play with daily!! even though they dont play with 90% of stuff they have ! see im not mean i buy lots of things that they dont appreciate !

Make sure you fix the shelves to the wall!

Not necessary but having had one and not got one at present would certainly be looking for somewhere with space we can dedicate. tbh it only gets worse as they want doll's house, doll's accessories and castle etc then progress onto own tv, games console etc and you have to be so much more disciplined in a limited space.

prettycandles - good tip thank you! although was thinking it could double as climbing wall!!!

SIL's playroom a nightmare anyway - you cant even play in there as there is so much stuff and it tramatises me as if honest am a bit of a tidy freak (hence nickname) - going for a half way playroom/family room option I think! have 20 unpacked boxes of toys that may not make there way into the house from garage though! now that is mean......

I am about to move (finally) to a tiny house

FWIW our new lounge will have no toys stored there - all toys in their shared bedroom and a few in the dining area, and deffo no feelings of being invaded by toysrus - even in their bedroom

My kids dont have loads of toys but Im still planning to cull a few - cos less is definitely more where kids are concerned - when they have less they appreciate them more - they find lots of new ways to play with each toy

I would love a craft/activity type room - but it would never be specifically a playroom

Of course it is an indulgence but I love having a playroom; when my younger kids (7 and 3) have friends around they are not allowed upstairs - no need as all the toys they are prepared to share are in the playroom (and the downstairs loo is just beside it). After years of getting really hacked off at spending hours tidying up after friends have gone home leaving bedrooms trashed and breaking my kids toys I can relax as I can keep an eye on things easily and there is a limit to how long it can take to tidy one room.

We've jut sold our house and packed DD toys away for viewings etc (I know mean mum) so it was less obvuious we were out growing it! She played soo well with the smaller toys that were left that now we have sold, we haven't unpacked the rest that had been 'decluttered' - so no - you don't need a playroom.

We have one toy box in the lounge (DS's room is too small for much more than a bed and chest of drawers..) - DS's toys live in there, and go away at the end of the day. No play room, no huge plastic toys like ovens (I see him playing with them at nursery two days a week - that'll do!). Perhaps I am stingey, but he doesn't actually play that much with what he does have, and is just as happy with a saucepan and wooden spoon, or pen and bit of scrap paper. Mind you, we have quite a lot of garden toys, so maybe that's the 'playroom' in our house.