Unused playroom

Our house is a split-foyer ranch. The playroom is the finished area of the basement level. The main level has most of our living space - living/dining room, kitchen, and the bedrooms. When we bought this house, we thought, "How nice! We can keep all the toys downstairs, when they are older (like now!) they can go play while we cook dinner, etc. But noooo! The girls are 5, and they will NOT go to the playroom unless we practically threaten them. The vast majority of their toys are downstairs, but instead, they would rather draw (I don't want to move the drawing stuff down there, then Caleb would have unsupervised access to it), play with the few things that stay in their rooms, or like right now, play with the bag of fiberfill I have to stuff some Christmas ornaments I'm making. If they are being loud and obnoxious, I would rather that be downstairs. When they say they don't want to go, the reasons are "We'd rather be upstairs." "We want to be with you." OK, love you, but seriously, can you take the jumping up and down game downstairs, please? Caleb will play in the playroom when it's just him, but if the girls are home, he wants to do what they are doing. Toys also end up leaking upstairs. DH and I occasionally want some quiet, or them not all up in our grills. Or maybe to watch TV or have a conversation. Is this an unrealistic expectation?

 

My girls are about the same age as yours. I think it's the age group. Mine want to sit between me and the tv and use the loudest voice possible. :umm: they get sent to their room a lot.

 

It took a bit for mine to get used to the playroom. During the summer they use it more because it's just too hot in the afternoons and I sit in the very comfy recliner we put in there with a book or sewing and just tune them out. But it took me doing alot of sitting down there to get them to use it. Sometimes I also take my laptop down there when I want them to play down there.

Quite frankly, mine have too many toys. I just haven't had the guts to get rid of stuff like I should. We could probably almost empty the playroom into their rooms if we did a serious clean-out.

Marissa

 

We run into this a lot, too. I just keep insisting that they go down to the family room. Most of their toys are down there (we are in a ranch, it's 3 steps down to the family room), the TV is down there, but many times they just want to be with me. I just keep encouraging them to go back and eventually they do.

 

Our playroom sits off of our family room and honestly, for now anyway, it is like a giant walk-in toy storage closet. They go in, pick out what they want to play with, and drag it out to the family room or living room or dining room or kitchen. :laughing: Their kitchen is in there and so is their easel and they will go in there and play with those - but they much prefer to do that when I am either in the family room or in the playroom with them. It seems to be much more fun to just be underfoot all of the time!

 

Makes me feel better about not having a playroom, at least. :ibiggrin: But A&S are similar in that they rarely play in their room (unless it's after "bedtime") -- they would always rather be in the living room with us. And no, we can't have a conversation either. The only time they're not up in our grills (when they're awake) is if they're watching TV.

 

Mine have only recently started going downstairs to play on a regular basis. Part is because the Wii is now down. Also, when we got a new tv for the family room, we set them up downstairs with a tv and dvd player, so now they will go and stay for a while.

 

My cousin has a playroom in her finished basement and told me that her kids started playing in it again after she rearranged the toys. All of a sudden it was like "OMG new toys!" even though there was nothing new down there. Maybe set it up with play stations and see if that entices them to go down there and play. I wish we had a playroom and I think we might sacrifice our office/guest bedroom to create one. I hate all the toys in my den.

 

I think some of it is personality. My daughter doesn't play with toys. She never has. She likes to color and write and draw and so when she is home that is what she is doing 90% of the time. Once in a while, she will play with her dolls, but even then it is rare.

We have a playroom that my son uses because it houses toys he loves: tinker toys, legos, blocks, the computer, etc. The only time my daughter goes in there is to draw on the white board we have up on the wall. (Or to draw on the small, lined white boards we have for writing.)

Our compromise, we have a little table in the family room that keeps her occupied, and my son goes in the playroom. Win, win because they are out of our hair and out of each others' hair. I know that doesn't solve your problem, but I honestly just don't see anything I could put in a playroom that would lure my daughter in there...other than art supplies.

 

That's a good idea, I think I'll work on that after Christmas. Maybe set it up in stations like in their kindergarten rooms.

Ainsley and Bea are a lot like Hannah. ALL they want to do is draw, color, write, do crafts. We did have their doll house (the only other thing they play with) upstairs, as we had kinda given in to the not playing downstairs thing, but had to move it to make room for the tree. I thought that would entice them to the playroom, but it's been out of sight, out of mind. Maybe I'll paint a wall with that chalkboard paint or something. Bea's teacher even remarked that she has never gone through so much paper, that's all she does during free time/stations.

 

I know you said you didn't want Caleb to have free access to the art stuff, but if that really is all they like to do (mine are largely like that too, at least at the moment), it might be worth figuring out how to work it so A&B can do art downstairs. Could you gate off the art area somehow, or is he too old for gates and fences now?

 

I think they may as they get a little older. Mine have over the last year. Also, what if you put some of the craft stuff in bins that the older kids can get into but Caleb can not? That way they have some items available and "know" they need to put them away when done so Caleb does not get into them because if he does they will go back upstairs?

 

Caleb hasn't met a gate/fence he can't climb. We tried to have an art table for them downstairs, but Caleb would take crayons and markers and write on the walls, sofa, etc. Then he "bothers" them (scribbles on their drawings, tries to take the crayon they are using, rips their paper) and it's just a big mess. He's not so bad with that when they are upstairs. They use the dining room table, and there's plenty of room for everyone, and I think he at least knows I can see him and doesn't bother them so much.

 

My girls will not go in their playroom either. I also just cleaned the whole thing, painted one wall with chalkboard paint and they still will not go in there.

 

Good to know! That was my plan for next week. :crazy:

 

Maybe it is the age, but all Lennon has been doing lately is drawing and coloring and cutting and glueing! We have secret agent and "Masked Man" (his own superhero creation) pictures all over our house! :laughing: