Babies and small homes--what do you do?

[catbus]

I know others on here have raised babies in small homes. Our house is a little over 1100 sf. We do have a full basement (an additional 1100 sf), but it's semi-finished and not really a place I want to hang out. Our main living level consists of a small living room, dining nook, very small kitchen, E's bedroom, a small office, and our bedroom. I feel like he must get bored seeing the same stuff all the time. There are very limited options for where to place his bouncer, swing, gym mat, or any other amusement gear we may get in the future. I get a little jealous of people with more space in which to entertain their baby (and other adults, for that matter, but that's a separate issue).

So... tell me how you've dealt with amusing a baby in a small space. I assume it will be easier in the spring and summer, when the weather's better and we can go on walks (?). Or is this a non-issue and I'm overthinking things? I just feel guilty when we go from our bedroom, to living room, to his room... and that's it.

[Deleted]

Your kid is not bored. You are bored. Our house is 1000 sq ft up, with a basement but we rent out the basement now. So we live in the living room and DS's bedroom, but really... we're in the living room (and now kitchen) all the time we're home. We rotate toys in and out to keep the hurricane to a manageable level. I did have somewhere to go nearly every day when I was SAH. The way I figure it, people used to raise tons of kids in this much space. Ours are not suffering.

[CloudBee]

You're over-thinking this. I grew up in a tiny home and turned out just fine. Most people don't have an extra family room or bonus room. You have plenty of space, though I understand wanting to upgrade at some point.

[whitepicketfence]

We have a fairly small home - 2BR, 1BA, 1200 sq ft. I don't think my kids seem bored. We keep the majority of their toys in the family room (the rest are kept in plastic bins in the hallway closet) but they end up being spread throughout the house by the end of the day. We do have a lot of land though so during the warmer months we spend a lot of time outside. We also get out of the house to do some sort of activity daily. We are thinking about finishing our basement (which would double our square footage) but that's more because the toy situation is getting out of hand and we'd like a more defined play space, not because the kids are bored with playing in the same areas everyday.

I think it's easy for us adults to feel bored when we have a young infant at home since there's not much you can really do with them in terms of play yet. What we can do with them at that age generally involves playing with the same sort of toy and using the same sort of gear (swing, bouncer, etc) repeatedly. The thing is, babies don't really get bored though. Everything is so new to them at that age so everything is interesting.

[cep1976]

I live in a 648 square foot house and it never occurred to me that my kid (6 months old) is bored. I think you are over thinking this.

[Deleted]

We have a small space. 1140sqft 3/1- I'm not worried about space. Would I like more room and a second bathroom? Of course, but it isn't going to happen. We play in the living room and his room.

I agree that you, not the kid, are bored. You can find things to do outside the home if you need some time away. Library, parent and me classes. We go to the park and play in our yard all the time. (Weather is usually fine. No snow where we are.)

[MadamePresident]

Change around the toys around, get books from the library, do a baby photo shoot. I would try to find ways to entertain yourself.

[Deleted]

My 2nd house was similar in size. I had 1 kid, soon had a 2nd & for a year 3 kids in it. I did set up a playroom in the basement & eventually an art room in the basement for them. We hung out down there maybe 25% of the time. We just hung in the living room & it was OK most days. The smaller house meant more $$ for activities so we did go places quite a bit. If it was nice we did go outside a lot. I lived within blocks of a huge park, zoo, museum & shopping. I was glad to move especially after #3 but I have good memories of our time there.

[Willis Jackson]

Our house is 1200 sq ft. We have plenty of space.

[catbus]

Whoa, it seems like I may have hit a nerve with some people! Sorry, I just wonder how things will go when E is older, since there's just not much play space here. It's not so much a concern *now*, but I think it will be interesting to keep an active baby/toddler entertained in limited space. But fair enough, I'll assume he won't care.

I go back to work 1/7. We've gotten out a lot during my leave, but it's been fall/winter and we're in Seattle, so activities are kind of limited.

[Willis Jackson]

Dec 29, 2012 23:43:25 GMT -5 catbus said:

Whoa, it seems like I may have hit a nerve with some people! Sorry, I just wonder how things will go when E is older, since there's just not much play space here. It's not so much a concern *now*, but I think it will be interesting to keep an active baby/toddler entertained in limited space. But fair enough, I'll assume he won't care.

DS is almost 4 and DD is 15mo. Keep in mind that that the house seems much bigger when you're a kid. Also, I allow stuff like running in the house and standing on the couch. How else are you supposed to get around when the floor is made of lava?

I can't recommend a collapsible tunnel enough. www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90192014/
It's super fun but folds down easily and slips under the couch. We also just got an attractive wood rocking horse and the kids love that.

You'll have to move stuff around to make room for his. I emptied a shelf in our dining room sideboard to make room for art supplies, moved some books to the basement so I could store toys in canvas bins on the shelves in the living room, etc. I don't like toy storage-specific furniture so I made room on our existing stuff for discreet toy storage.

[Kore]

You are an awesome mom, will I totally remember playing similar games.

I grew up in a 900 sf home as the youngest of 3. In hindsight, holy shit that's tiny. We spent a lot of time having adventures in the unfinished basement (haunted house was a big one), making forts in our bedroom (shared w/my sis), and playing outside. Everything is a lot bigger when you're little; your little guy won't think anything of his house except that it's super fun.

[pamela]

I remember thinking the baby must be bored when we lived in 2300 sq ft (now we're under 1200). Then I realized it wasn't him, it was me. The biggest trick is keeping toys limited and organized so that they can find what they want to play with. DS is almost 2 and content with just a few favorite toys. He'll pull out everything he has in his toy cabinet (we built a walk of built-ins and he has 1 cabinet that is his toybox) just because he can and all it does it make a mess, he doesn't really enjoy doing it.

[Deleted]

Dec 29, 2012 21:00:17 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

Your kid is not bored. You are bored. Our house is 1000 sq ft up, with a basement but we rent out the basement now. So we live in the living room and DS's bedroom, but really... we're in the living room (and now kitchen) all the time we're home. We rotate toys in and out to keep the hurricane to a manageable level. I did have somewhere to go nearly every day when I was SAH. The way I figure it, people used to raise tons of kids in this much space. Ours are not suffering.

Ditto "your kid is not bored. YOU are bored." He's happy as a clam wherever you/DH are. A bigger house just means more space for toys all.over.the.goddamn.place, trust me more space is not better. If you're bored cooped up in the house try to get out more. I know it's hard in the winter. I SAH, and to keep myself entertained I run an errand 4-5 days a week, like Target or the grocery store. DS loves being in the cart, and getting smiles from all the other customers. I go out to lunch once a week or so to the same baby-friendly places, so the employees and I chat a little bit. I bundle him up and take him on walks on the "nice" days, i.e., not windy or raining.

ETA: Catbus, I don't think you "hit a nerve", just that the whole "I have a child so I need a bigger house/car" argument is |-) |-) If you lived in a 500 sq. ft 1 bedroom apartment and your kid was getting too big to sleep in your room, then maybe I could see the argument for a bigger house. But it sounds like you have plenty of space.

[Deleted]

We live in 864 square feet. It sucks for entertaining, but I kinda like it for DS. Can't lose him if I try lol!

[knitty]

Maybe you could buy a job lot of flat screen monitors and wallpaper your living room with them, then play footage of palaces and national parks and things?

Otherwise, if your three bedroom house is just too suburban for you, you could move to Missisippi and live in a seventy room mansion for the same price and use a different room every day! After all, that's what everyone else in the world does. After all, activities are so limited in that city of three million people you live in.

(Seattle: aquarium, two children's museums, science museum, tons of walking trails, hundreds of amazing parks, public libraries on every corner, indoor play spaces attached to several of them, play cafes, and that was only a week's worth of experience!)

www.parentmap.com/article/rainy-day-recess-50-great-places-for-playing-inside

[josieposy]

I have 4 people and 4 animals in a 1300 sq ft house. It's all about layout and constantly ridding yourself of the crap you don't need. As soon as I didn't need the twins' swings anymore, they were gone! High chairs - gone! I'm constantly getting rid of old crap to make room for new crap. We also just sectioned off part of the basement for a play area. As your kiddo gets older, try re-arranging and see if something works better.

And remember there is something to be said about not having a large space to contain a small toddler. The limited space will work to your advantage.

[whitepicketfence]

Dec 29, 2012 23:43:25 GMT -5 catbus said:

Whoa, it seems like I may have hit a nerve with some people! Sorry, I just wonder how things will go when E is older, since there's just not much play space here. It's not so much a concern *now*, but I think it will be interesting to keep an active baby/toddler entertained in limited space. But fair enough, I'll assume he won't care.

I go back to work 1/7. We've gotten out a lot during my leave, but it's been fall/winter and we're in Seattle, so activities are kind of limited.

Limited space to contain a toddler = awesome. There's less for them to get into and it's easier to keep an eye on them as they get into everything anyway.

A preschooler is a different story, however...

[catbus]

Dec 30, 2012 9:33:16 GMT -5 knitty said:

Maybe you could buy a job lot of flat screen monitors and wallpaper your living room with them, then play footage of palaces and national parks and things?

Otherwise, if your three bedroom house is just too suburban for you, you could move to Missisippi and live in a seventy room mansion for the same price and use a different room every day! After all, that's what everyone else in the world does. After all, activities are so limited in that city of three million people you live in.

(Seattle: aquarium, two children's museums, science museum, tons of walking trails, hundreds of amazing parks, public libraries on every corner, indoor play spaces attached to several of them, play cafes, and that was only a week's worth of experience!)

www.parentmap.com/article/rainy-day-recess-50-great-places-for-playing-inside

8-D

[knitty]

You're welcome.

[Deleted]

What crawled up knitty's ass & died?

[froggy76]

Honestly, if I were you, I'd set up a play room in the basement. Our house is 1000 sf on the main level (ranch) and 400 sf more in the downstairs family room. We spend most of our time upstairs because we both work FT, so we don't have much time to get bored during the week. On weekends, it is nice to go downstairs and have some more space.

Your kid won't get bored, but I'm surprised that so many people don't feel cramped in their small houses. We don't have a very open layout, so that could be part of the problem.

[dragonfly08]

Until my oldest was 6 months old, we were living in a rented townhouse that was less than 1000 sq ft. There was plenty of space to keep her occupied. In fact, we spent most of our time in just one room...the downstairs was nothing but a home office/entry way, upstairs was two bedrooms (one of which was full of boxed stuff waiting to be moved to our house when we closed) and two bathrooms. The only real space was the main level, an open kitchen/family room. I had her boppy and swing there, along with a basket of toys and books. I doubt she was ever bored. Me, sometimes, but that had nothing to do with the size of the house.

Once she was really mobile, by 11 months, it might have been tight because she loved to move around. We certainly didn't need much more, though, and if you have 1100 extra sq ft in the basement you can convert, that's more than enough IMO.

[GailGoldie]

ditto everyone else- you are overthinking it- your baby is not bored

we have about 1300sf - and my twins were only in part of that for like their first year- literally we hardly EVER brought them into the kitchen.... when they started walking around 13mo and we'd open the gate and say "field trip!" and they'd run into the kitchen so excited, lol.

it's better when you can get out more - but even in the winter- go to the mall for walks, etc - get yourself out so YOU aren't bored.

[bronxgirl]

Dec 30, 2012 9:33:16 GMT -5 knitty said:

Maybe you could buy a job lot of flat screen monitors and wallpaper your living room with them, then play footage of palaces and national parks and things?

Otherwise, if your three bedroom house is just too suburban for you, you could move to Missisippi and live in a seventy room mansion for the same price and use a different room every day! After all, that's what everyone else in the world does. After all, activities are so limited in that city of three million people you live in.

(Seattle: aquarium, two children's museums, science museum, tons of walking trails, hundreds of amazing parks, public libraries on every corner, indoor play spaces attached to several of them, play cafes, and that was only a week's worth of experience!)

www.parentmap.com/article/rainy-day-recess-50-great-places-for-playing-inside

well that was pretty damn rude. Ithought the OP's question was pretty legitimate. I also live in a small space and was concerned before my daughter was born if we would have enough room. As it turns out things have been fine and we adjusted quite well.

[oregonpachey]

We have a really small house (720 sq ft) and it has its done and pros. Pros are that we can let the kids play and not worry about them being out of sight. Another is that it makes me accountable for keeping our place tidy, organized and limited on the number if toys.

Some suggestions are to make a playroom in the basement if you can, rotate out the toys, make games out of everyday items (my kids movie playing with kitchen utensils) and definitely take advantage of activities that your city has. Library, zoo,taking walks, children's museum, aquarium, etc.

When we get bored we get out of the house.

[SusanBAnthony]

A basement playroom was kind of a drag for me bc I didn't want to go down there, and the kids were too little still when we moved (4.5 and 2) to want to go down by themselves. I solved this problem by setting up my sewing machine down there, so they would play with the new, interesting and different basement toys, giving me 20 minutes to sew. Win win.

I have never lived in a house bigger than yours. Our old house was 1200 plus a finished basement. Now we live in 760 with no basement. That owned be fine with one kid, but is driving me batty with two. We can't find a house soon enough.