Living with kids and their clutter
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- January
- 12
My colleague Alison Bert, who wrote a great story about the cost of containing clutter for Sunday’s paper, asked me if I’d like to write something about what I do with Pumpkin’s stuff. I happily agreed because I’ve spent a lot of energy figuring out what to do with her toys, books and clothes  and that doesn’t mean avoiding all mess.
It might surprise friends who consider me a neatnik to see my house at the end of a day of play. (Let’s just say you need some obstacle-avoidance skills.) My philosophy about Pumpkin’s belongings is that they have as much right to occupy space in our home as any of my things. After all, it’s her house, too. So, I don’t make any effort to corral her into a separate playroom or to hide her toys from view. It actually makes me happy to live amid her stuff. (Maybe it’s what comes of being an older mom and the parent of a preemie  I just don’t take these things for granted. So, at the risk of sounding mushy, I take pleasure in sitting down for a DVD with my husband after she’s asleep and seeing her toys lined up in front of the entertainment center.)
That said, I think everyone is happier if there is some order in a home, so we do have fairly rigid rules about where things belong. We have two woven baskets in the living room, with one reserved for soft, stuffed toys (her books usually end up in a loose stack beside it):
The other is reserved for balls, puzzles and anything else plastic:
The bigger toys, like her Noah’s Ark, Mega Bloks and scooter and tend to sprawl a bit, but after she is asleep we put them in a row in front of the TV cabinet:
We keep her bottles, dishes and spoons handy on the kitchen counter, with bibs hanging to dry on a cabinet knob:
In the bathroom, we’ve hung this handy mesh bag to contain bath toys in between use:
In her bedroom, we use a lightweight nylon toy bag:
Some of Pumpkin’s stuff has even migrated into her parents’ bedroom. Her books share space with mine on my night table so that after her morning bottle in bed, we can snuggle and read:
Whether you call it clutter, mess or simply the overflowing stuff of life, the truth is that your house will be fuller once you share it with children  and that’s pretty cool. What solutions and advice would you like to share with other moms and dads?
This entry was posted
on Friday, January 12th, 2007 at 8:07 pm by Julie Moran Alterio.
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please thats not clutter. you really dont want to see clutter. ;-]