Children Are Not Decor
Who knew! Honestly I have been wondering why my children would not just sit posed in the corner where I left them. Now, thanks to the New York Times, I know. Children are not decor. I really wish I knew this before I had them.
Seriously though the article tackles the issue of marrying your needs as a grown-up person with those of your child in a way that is aesthetically pleasing to all of you. As couples are marrying and having children later, many have already developed expensive tastes in furniture and decor. They don’t want their homes turning into Romper Room.
While some of the parents in the article seem to have taken things to an extreme that I personally wouldn’t for safety reasons, like leaving staircases open without railings or keeping razor sharp coffee tables in the middle of the living room, I think that the article raises some interesting points. No pun intended.
One of the things that people comment on when they come to my home is the lack of clutter and toys strew about. This is not because I don’t want my children to play. Or I want my house to look like children don’t live there. It is because I think long and hard about what toys I bring into the house and where they toy will live once it gets here.
This reminds me of when I was shopping for new throw pillows for my family room couch. My husband is opposed to throw pillows. He says, and he is right, that the children will just throw them on the floor and run all over them so why bother. I say, that for me the few hours that the pillows remain on the couch where I put them is worth it.
I bought overpriced silk covered pillows that were quickly turned into trampolines and forts. But I was okay with. They were for our family room, not a formal living room. And the fact that they have small stains, eh I am okay with that also. Now if they went into my bedroom and tore the pillows off of my bed I would have an issue with that.
Bookcases and baskets are great solutions for toy storage. I wrote about this issue extensively at A Year Off about a year ago and all the same advice still applies. Create a house that is child-friendly, not child-centered. Children like things to look nice just as much as you do.