If you have kids, you’ll already know just how impossible it is to get their bedrooms just right. That’s because the things they want are always just tantalizingly out of reach.
You get them what they want, do their rooms up just how they ask — then they visit a friend’s house, see a movie, or an ad on TV, and it’s all-change.
The Parent’s Role
As a parent, this is the never-ending story. But you have to realize, you’re never going to get there because the kid’s wants and desires will change as time goes by (sometimes by the day!) and this is all part of life’s natural development.
As homo-sapiens, childhood is all a fun rehearsal for real life (if we’re lucky), so shaping and redesigning one’s rehearsal space for life (otherwise known as the kid’s bedrooms) is all a part of that cycle.
So to fight it is about as useful as trying to stop their milk teeth from falling out — or puberty from starting; it can’t be done.
What you can do though is decide how you’re going to best facilitate their personal development in shaping their own environment. And psychologically-speaking, this is very important.
The Fine Line Between Privacy and Parenting
A kid’s room is his/her personal space which is sacred to them. If you continually violate this privacy, it isn’t a good thing. In other words, it’s important to let them make their own choices here — including mistakes — in a relatively safe environment.
Remodeling as an Educational Lesson
As a parent, at first glance you might not think of being an educator. True, you’re not part of the official school system. But that doesn’t mean you can’t impart some key life lessons:
Financial Responsibility. The best approach is to give them a budget and a few boundaries, but otherwise free rein. In this way they have to make real life monetary choices as we all do.
Make sure they understand to tackle the essentials first before they start splurging on framed, autographed posters of Justin Beiber (or whoever the current boy toy is).
Organizational Skills. One problem with bedrooms, particularly children’s bedrooms, is that real estate runs out before belongings do. Creative storage can be your friend and once your child understands this, the concept can transfer to other areas of life.
Maximize the shelf space in the closet. Use over-the-door shoe cubbies (found at Target or Walmart). Install inexpensive shelving on the walls first and next make the artwork and ornamentation fit in.
Time Management. This is another skill that hold life-long value. First, make a conceptual plan on paper of the renovations to take place. Next, come up with a ballpark figure of the time it will take to complete each task.
For example, 4 hours to shop, 8 hours to paint the walls, 2 hours to install shelving and storage units, etc.
They may choose cheap bedroom furniture that you dont like, but that’s OK. But at least you can point them in the right direction.
Wood wardrobes for sale at www.furnishinghomes.co.uk, for example, are great choices no matter what happens next, or whatever weird colors the kids choose. Steering their choices wisely may be no bad thing; but it’s important to let them make those choices.
