Thursday, January 24, 2008

The Basement

At our house the kids' rooms are in the basement along with all the toys, books and the TV/family room.

Today we stayed around the house. Hattie has a terrible cold and I needed to do laundry. So as I was cleaning and vacuuming upstairs I told the kids to play downstairs. But I have NO idea how many times they came up to ask me something or show me something. For some reason, they do NOT like being down there. I think its a mixture of wanting to just be around me and fear of monsters in the basement. One of the worst things is that they are constantly bringing toys and projects upstairs and leaving them around. I HATE THAT!!

You know what I mean? I can't be in the bathroom without them "needing" something. So I know the basement thing has to do with me not being there too. But why are they afraid? Its NOT dark. There are windows and lights. Its a great place.

And they are driving me crazy about this. Any suggestions?

5 comments:

Stacy said...

Lock the door! ;-)

Karen @Snakes-Snails-Puppydogtails said...

I'm no help... the boys do the same thing! They won't play upstairs very often... you know how small our house is. They could HEAR me breathing if they really wanted to.
Two things do help SOMETIMES... mainly in the morning...(don't ask why it doesn't work later in the day) 1- Carter - since he's a little older Hayden doesn't mind being alone.
2 - A cd... like "Patch the Pirate" or "Adventures in Odessey" playing while they are playing!
I'd love any tips too!
(I've tried locking the door... they just scream for hours.(JUST KIDDING! Although I've been tempted sometimes!:)

The Via Colony said...

One thing I've noticed is that if I give them "mommy time" in the morning they get their "fix" and start playing on their own after awhile. This is not full-proof, but works sometimes. I just get going as soon as I wake up so often that I forget to spend that much needed time with them=)

Staci said...

I really am no help either. . . I have the same problem here too. No matter where I am they are and their toys end up there too. I was told that one day I would miss them following me around and miss stumbling over their toys. . . so I always try to remember that. . . .sometimes it is hard though!!

ellieandavasmommy said...

Ellie is the same way! Our house is one story and only 1300 sq. ft., but she still has to be right under my feet. One suggestion that I do have is this (and we do this with Ellie). When/if they leave toys where they are not supposed to be, they lose that particular toy until Saturday morning, when they take everything back to where it belongs first thing in the morning and can play the rest of the day. Even if it is Saturday evening, if Hattie's 'my little pony' is upstairs and she is not playing with it, it is yours until the next Saturday morning. Then, she can get it back, along with any other toys, but not until then. That doesn't help with the alone time, but it might help with the toys.