The art of Playtime

As a child of the 80’s with 4 siblings in suburban USA I remember the countless days that we played and let our imaginations run wild. From tents on top of our beds, pillow forts, the secret layer under the basement stairs, imaginary carnivals in the backyard, the pet (mostly fish) graveyard and even a ninja turtle hideout at our grandparents house. Thinking back on these fond memories I realize that we did not have a “playroom” but we certainly didn’t notice it was lacking.

Growing up in a state that is cold almost 8 months out of the year makes outdoor fun a bit difficult. As a solution our parents stocked our finished basement with a clubhouse and other toys, and down we went in the winter months to create memories. I even remember a birthday party down there. As an adult going back to my parent’s house I can barely stand up in that basement. The ceilings are very low, something I never realized as a child (clearly), but it makes me appreciate that my parents, aunts, uncles and their friends joined in the clubhouse fun without a complaint at the lack of head space.

Fast forward to today and my little ones…. My kids, well, they vomit toys, everywhere. That’s the best way I can put it. I mean, I should have this under control…right? I try to instill in my five-year old to clean up her room, and to clean up behind herself in general but her version of cleaning, and actual cleaning are two totally different things. So, I walk around daily performing my toy police duties and put everything back in its place. By walk around daily I mean whenever I’m awake and home, I’m usually picking up toys.

Being a rational thinking adult, I’ve tried to implement a “no toys in mommy’s and daddy’s room” policy. Yea right….with this policy I still find a small battalion of Dolly’s having a movie night in front of my bed and occasionally (every night) tripping over an oversized (could be a Fiat) doll car. So Basically can’t win! My house is ruled by my five-year old and maybe the 6 month old is in on it too, this I do not admit to. I put a clean up “band-aid” on it for all who enter announced…”un-announced visits” are not allowed. However when they happen I have a stop drop and quiet policy. Even though my car is out front, the garage door is opened, groceries are in my opened trunk and the Dolly’s (which never let me down by the way) are having an impromptu gardening session in the yard….

I’m not home; nope I’m not home.

With all this being said, when we purchased our new home all I wanted was a playroom. Not a playroom/family room, not an area in the girls rooms, not a section of a random area in my house…a playroom…kids, toys, toys and kids designated.

We decided to forgo the traditional formal dinning room (we still have an eating area, my kids are rambunctious, not savages!) and replaced it with fun kids stuff. You see where I’m going with this? Contain the toy vomit to one place! I’m a stickler for easy organizing that is not a brown box in which everything can be thrown. I created a playroom that my oldest daughter can enjoy, do homework and have “movie nights” in while still making it a place my newborn can grow into AND a place they both can clean (yes I expect the baby to clean). Clean enough that my clean up after them is more my OCD and not actual toy vomit.

Okay! Soooo here I am admitting again…my kids playroom is a revolving door of mess. I can’t be mad at it though, the room is played in, I cannot escape it as the baby is not big enough to play with my other daughter yet, so mommy is usually called in to be the “teacher, student, doctor, Anna, security guard, nail tech, conductor, game show host, waitress, line leader and assistant, you get the idea. So I’m learning to love the moments, no matter how tired, annoyed (I can say that right? Maybe not…) or busy I am, I will squeeze in a ballet of Do You Want to Build a Snowman while propped against our imaginary Frozen door in between diaper changing and food preparation, to see smiles on those faces, for them to think their mommy is silly and to build the memories I made the playroom to create.

At the end of the day, I’m all for the playroom and eating informally somewhere else, I will get my dinning room back in a few years. For now, I still find toys everywhere. I cannot contain the “play” on my best day. But everything has a place and the toys eventually get put away. It’s a playroom and my little girls can play to their heart’s content because they will not be little forever and I want them to fondly look back on a place they could happily call their own

-J