Motherhood Series: Battle Playroom

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working hard to get our house in order. It has been our priority to get the house set up as soon as possible to help the girls adjust and begin to call Hong Kong home.

Our house is truly a gift from God!!

One of my favorite rooms in our house is the bonus space on the 2nd floor that we decided to use as a playroom. Most of the year, Hong Kong gets hot and humid, so I was excited that we would have a space for the girls to play inside on days when it is hot or too stormy to go out. I began scrolling through Pinterest to find fun ideas for our new playroom. Visions of perfectly organized, adorable playrooms filled my mind. Little did I know, my expectations would be very different than reality.

As soon as we moved into our new house, we set up the playroom and let the girls play to their hearts content. I expected them to have so much fun in their new playroom. I thought they would clean up after themselves and not leave a mess. However, I was very wrong!! They played to their hearts content and on more than one occasion the girls pulled out every single toy, just to leave them on the floor.

I’ve been so mad, frustrated, and getting angry at them for not picking up after themselves in the playroom. I realize they have never had a playroom before, but I still expected them to clean up after themselves. It has felt like a losing battle.

Last week, things came to a head, when once again the playroom was a disaster!! I yelled and said that I wasn’t sure if they were ready to be responsible for a playroom. Then I just stopped talking and helped them pick up the books and toys for the hundredth time.

By God’s grace, He intervened and gave me a wonderful idea for the playroom.

Once everything was cleaned up I sat down the three big girls and began to have a civilized conversation about the playroom. I gave them three options of what we could do with the playroom. 

Option #1: Mommy ends up yelling and screaming, because the playroom is destroyed.
Option #2: Mommy takes away the playroom and uses it as her own craft room.
Option #3: The girls learn to respect the rules and take care of the playroom.

My girls chose option #3, which will involve them learning to respect the playroom rules. Together, we talked through our four playroom rules and why they’re important to remember. We ever made a sign with the rules, so the girls can clearly see what I expect of them. Then, I thought it would be easier for them to clean up if they knew where the toys are supposed to go. The girls helped me label the containers and now know how they can help to do their part to clean up after themselves.

I know that things won’t be perfect and they will still make messes. However, I was proud of myself for not just yelling and screaming at them, but talking to them and brainstorming a solution. I hope and pray that this will help them to take ownership of the playroom and learn to take care of their things.

If you have a playroom, I would love to hear your feedback and any ideas I could try if this doesn’t work.