Separate Play Space is Sanity Saver for Long Winter Months

Remember how it snowed Saturday afternoon? Well, I was one of those crazy people out schlepping around in the snow, all because I had a brainstorm for buying myself a small increase in sanity level by creating a basement play space. 

Before picking up groceries at Meijer, I stopped at Lowe’s. With the help of a friendly staff member, I purchased three heavy (i.e., “indestructible”) wire shelving units, two sets of double drawers and two heavy plastic tubs. Bearing in mind the inventive capabilities of my offspring, I bought drawers that were too small for a child to fit into and shelves that weren’t high enough to be climbed, and I hid the lids to the tubs.  

I had cleared out a large corner of our unfinished basement where the cold concrete is covered by an old rug in front of an ancient couch. My husband kindly spent the time to put together the shelves and drawers. Then I got to work moving the clutter of toys out of my children's bedrooms and down into their new basement playroom. 

And let me tell you, I am loving it. I’ve already noticed a decrease in the cabin fever level, both for the kids and for myself.  

There are several great things about a basement play area (or a play space in any spot you can manage):

• The noisy chaos is slightly removed from the area of the house where I usually can be found, resulting in improved sanity levels.
• The bedrooms are far easier to keep tidy.
• There is one central place where all the different toys that appeal to different kids are located, so they are more likely to play with, or at least near, each other happily (well, at least some of the time ... ). 
• And the children have more room to play with their friends. 
• Not only that, but a timeout in a bedroom did not work as well when there were plenty of toys to be played with during the supposed timeout. 

It’s interesting to see how perspectives change over time. As an adult, I would not be very appreciative if someone banished me and my “toys” to the cold basement with the old furniture and the unfinished look of exposed pipes and concrete walls. But the kids don’t care at all. In fact, they are pleased with the new setup. They like having a special place that belongs to them. The cold does not seem to bother them. (Cold bothers kids less than adults, I’ve found.  Remember swimming in the pool till your lips were purple and you were shivering violently, but you still refused to get out? I put a space heater in the basement, but the kids don’t seem to need it.) And they still inhabit the world of imagination enough that the old furniture and unfinished basement don’t even get noticed.  They are too busy playing. 

I was pretty sure it would turn out that way. After all, I once spent many happy hours in a similarly rough-and-ready basement play space myself ... which might help explain why, despite multiple highly inventive offspring, my mother still gives every appearance of being a reasonably sane woman.