Experienced Moms - Nursery to Toddler Room - REALLY NEED ADVICE?

kids bedroom ideas with chalkboard paint image

Ariel36

Okay. I really need some help here.

Last night we bought (and can still cancel the order/return) a beautiful nicely crafted nursery set where the crib converts to a bed. The "idea" behind the really nice nursery furniture is that it will follow our son (yes, we are having a boy) through his life. The set is beautiful and we all have images of the perfect nursery right?

NOW - I woke up this morning (morning is when my mind is most clear) and I started thinking about Alex in his room. First, if he chews up his crib will it really be a lifetime set?? Even assuming you can patch/stain the tooth marks on it will my teenage son really want to sleep in the bed he has had when he was a baby and will everything just look bashed up anyhow?? Nice furniture with soft elegant wood and finish? Hmmmm - thoughts?

My thoughts then meandered to two different things - (1) the idea that his room should be "his" space and should be a fun place for him to explore and that we should be conservative about furnishings early on and really spunk it up and cater it to his fun interests as he gets a little older or (2) maybe his bedroom really should be a calm sanctuary and a nice furniture set is just fine. Is turning a bedroom into a sort of playroom too distracting for him to sleep in? I mean, if a child has chalkboard paint on the walls to draw, built-in counters to color, use play-dough, etc. on will he EVER want to actually "sleep" in the room? How many of your children "play" in their bedrooms?? Really, I have no idea.

Please give me any advice you can on this. I really don't know what to do. Am I kidding myself with these "lifetime" type sets? Is it just a more expensive set of what will truly amount to disposable furniture? Is having nice furniture going to turn what "should" be a fun space for him into another stiffling grown-up space?? Do kids really just chew the heck out of furniture in their rooms (especially the cribs?)

Anyhow, could just use some guidance here :-0

Answer
I think like others have said that it depends on the kid. When I was pregnant with our son(who is also Alex) we also bought a nice set that converts to a toddler bed and then a full bed. We knew that we wanted at least two kids and that this set would last as long as we needed it. When I got pregnant with my daughter we moved our son out of the crib into a new twin bed and used the crib for our daughter. We have just taken the rail off of the crib and now use it as a toddler bed for our daughter. So far the bed is still in good shape, and I have two very active children, the jumping on the bed type. We plan on using the furniture until my daughter moves out of the house, but if we need to, we will get her new furniture.

As for playing in their rooms, we have NO toys in their rooms, just a few books. That is what works for us. We are lucky enough to have a house that has room for a seperate play room, and that is where we keep the toys. My kids would never sleep if we kept toys in their rooms, but that is my kids, they have never been sleepers to begin with. Not having toys in their rooms did make the transition from crib to bed easier, when they got out of bed, there was nothing for them to do, so they got bored and got back in bed and went to sleep.

If you are worried about the baby chewing on the rail, there are things you can buy to put on the rail to prevent the wood from getting ruined.

http://www.buybuybaby.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=15006110&RN=7076&

I have never had to use these, but friends who have used them, loved them.

In my opinion you got the right furniture, but ultimatly you have to decide what is right for your family. And if you are pregnant, don't forget about the hormones and the nesting, I was constantly second guessing all my decisions while I was pregnant. I found that usually my first instinct was the right one.

Help! Bored! ANY idea is welcome! Best answer 10+! What do you think? HELP *_*?

Skylar

My friends and I are bored. We've tried to un-bore ourself, but nothing's working. We need new ideas!
Things we've already done: went to the mall, watched DVD's, went to the movies, tried to watch tv, gone to the grocery store, gone to other friends' houses [that's how they all ended up at my house], went restaurant-crawling for breakfast then lunch, tried to play monopoly AND scrabble, went bowling, played pool, played video games, drew on my bedroom walls [Don't worry one of my walls is painted with chalkboard paint..], prank calls, and a lot of other things. [we've done this along the whole summer not in one day]
Anything with water is a no go since one of my friends has a cast of his broken wrist and I have a leg cast.
We have money, and a car so we can go places. We're 5 people: 3 guys and 2 girls, we're 16&17 and one of us is 18, and dinner's at 8:30.

Ideas anyone? Places to go? People to see? Things to do?

Answer
Time to put things in a hat to decide what to do next! Hard to have fun with a coed gruip. But if you all decide to write down fun things and randomly pick them out of a hat. Kinda makes things more exciting.

Ohh the blanket game!! And the hoodie game!! Ok blanket game is that you turn off the lights, leave the room. Come back with a blanket over you and try to catch your friends, person you catch goes next. People hiding move around and make noises. Ok hoodie game, this one was sooo fun! Each kid stands on a driveway and you all pick the driveway you will meet at, you all turn your hoodies around so you can't see, first you find eachother, then you find the driveway you collectively chose. It's pretty fun and funny because got to work together and its funny when everyone thinks they have the driveway, but u open your hoodie and its a random house LoL. Oh I miss those two games.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

Title Post: Experienced Moms - Nursery to Toddler Room - REALLY NEED ADVICE?
Rating: 97% based on 9598 ratings. 4,8 user reviews.
Author: Unknown

Thanks For Coming To My Blog