The Kids' Stuff
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 6:53AM When we first moved into our house we immediately decided to give the kids the basement as “their space.”
We high-fived, renovated, threw shelves and cool shit down there, popped-in a couple space heaters, and dreamed the high-life dream of kids playing gleefully in the basement while we sipped wine, watched adult shows and chased each other around the house with sex toys.
Ok…that last part was only in my high-life dream…but regardless, we dreamt.
Then reality hit.
The girl….loves playing by herself. Dollies, house, school, and her favorite game “my brother’s evil and let’s plot to kill him.”
The boy? Well, he basically hates to be alone. NEVER wants to play alone, and ALWAYS wants to be involved in anything happening within a 50-yard radius.
So throwing him in the basement to play army, Legos, or whatever little dudes do these days is NEVER going to happen. He won’t do it.
Then, to make matters worse, we had a tween come visit us this summer from North Carolina. Basements are a rare thing in the south so when she was confronted with our decked-out underground awesomeness, all she saw was a dark, cold, dungeon of terror.
And she made it known. She refused to go down there unless all the lights were on and an adult was with her.
Ever since then…our kids feel the same way.
As a result, the adult space has become romper-room. Dollies, stuffed animals, plastic frogs and insects, Play-Doh, and little itty-bitty microscopic toys that can only be found by stepping on them with your bare feet at 4 a.m. have now entered into the adult “love palace.”
The daughter wins the biggest prize for being the most obnoxious about it. She brings arm-loads at a time of stuffed animals, dolly houses, and hooker boots to “our” area.
So, I guess the purpose of this post is to say, I miss you adult space.
I miss the gap in time when the Mrs. and I could have spontaneous sex once a year, throwing clothes to and fro without them landing on a fake full-sized cat causing it to meow and purr.
I miss watching watching “Cops” and yelling “get the fucker!!!!” without little ears and eyes being present.
I miss coming home from work and seeing a clean, relaxed space child-free of Barbie houses and army men.
But I know it’s a phase. And…I focus on the positive. Maybe now is the time I put the pool table and bar in the basement and shove all the kids’ shit into their rooms?
I mean…they do have light up there…& a boogie man’s never been sighted there! At least not yet…
Barbie, Cops, Legos, adult space, army men, dungeon, romper room, sex toys, toys, wine
Reader Comments (15)
Hubby & I feel your pain. We have a lovely 61" theater screen that the kids took over. It plays mostly treehouse tv or Disney...it was bought for movies & hockey games but nope! Kids always win ;-)
I heard a story a while back of a dad that was anal - retentive on making sure the house was clean (sort of like me) and he was always getting onto his kids about making sure the windows were clean! dont touch the window, your prints are getting all over the windows (u get the idea). so now his kids are grown and gone and he wishes there were finger prints to wipe off....my kids have a "basement" area also...it drives me freakin nuts! they wont keep it clean either...one day I'll wish it was a mess, or maybe not :)...love the post!!
Just switch it now. The basement is the "adult space". And didn't anyone tell you that the second born will be exactly opposite of your first born??
Just think, you and your lovely wife and make all the noise you want down there. They'll never hear it upstairs because of all the video games going on, the yelling and screaming..etc.
I've always left my boys to scream it out by themselves in hope that they would either become exhausted from it or knock eachother out and it would be quiet for at least an hour.
Don't worry, it will end soon. My house was the same way & the hubs & I had the same problem (albeit with only one child it was easier)...our daughter just turned 13 & she camps out in her room like we have the plague. She only comes out to ask for rides to the mall and to see if dinner is ready.
Enjoy it while it lasts! Before you know it, the house will be army men & barbie free...and there replacements are jewelry, lip gloss and love notes. I miss the old days!
I know exactly how you feel as a father. I never can enjoy adult tv shows anymore. And as a kid, I would kicked an old woman down a flight of stairs to have a basement.
Let's not pretend you don't attempt to make love to the dollies. And army men ;)
Nice job daddy. I actually liked it.
Thank you for shining a light on my near future. We have already made our nice formal dining room into a playroom ( for our 10month old)
He has a basement as well.
>sigh<
Pitch a tent outside then tell them... it's either the tent without being able to come in the house... or the basement with all the amenities. That's it.. no other choices.
Brother, I feel your pain. Tessa has just about the entire house under her command and she's only 18 months old. Even my precious basement has parts of it in her clutches.
We had the same problem until we got a dog that liked to eat toys. Now the toys stay in the bedrooms, and the door stays closed, or they end up in a little brown pile in the backyard.
Now that they're invaded the adult space, is it too late to move to the basement?
Think of it this way. Sure the basement is nice when they're little. But it'll turn into a deep, dark fortress of raging hormones in just a few years. Why let them have that space all to themselves now? I say move in before it's too late. Otherwise, you'll have those jelly bracelets snapping all over the place.
I feel your pain, our 5 yo has taken over our house. 10 rooms and only one that is kid free it's the visitor bathroom. LOL Seriously I like to think it will pass until then whenever the Mister & I want to jiggy in the living room we must pick up stuff or else we have kid toys poking into our backs.
DUDE! After the last party where we took out the coffee table and pushed all the furniture back against the walls... WE LEFT IT THAT WAY! We felt bad putting things back the way they were, because when it's bare like this our 3 YR OLD has more space to play. So our house also no longer looks like a house. It looks more like a sea of dinosaurs, matchbox cars and super hero action figures. It will never be the same. But it's so worth it to see the smile on their faces, isn't it? Isn't it??? ISN'T IT????
So FUNNY... we moved in with the same intent... and last month we moved EVERYTHING that is not adult back down again. Thankfully, the kids like it down there... they have a stage with curtains and they like to put on shows. And SOMETIMES if they're good, daddy lets them plug the microphone into the amp so they can be REALLY loud -and it will drown out any noise from upstairs ;) and keep them occupied.