small lifestyle changes after kids

I was thinking of making curtains for my living room. DH was saying
the kids will wipe their faces on them and/or pull at them so we
should wait for few years. I can't deny this because I distinctly
remember doing that when I was little. Also, I was checking out nice
planters for indoor plants and I thought about the same thing.

So I thought I would ask what small lifestyle changes did you make
when your kids were little (less than 5 years old?) I know having kids
changes your whole world but I'm asking about minor changes.

Thanks.

"ted" wrote in message
om...
I was thinking of making curtains for my living room. DH was saying
the kids will wipe their faces on them and/or pull at them so we
should wait for few years. I can't deny this because I distinctly
remember doing that when I was little. Also, I was checking out nice
planters for indoor plants and I thought about the same thing.

So I thought I would ask what small lifestyle changes did you make
when your kids were little (less than 5 years old?) I know having kids
changes your whole world but I'm asking about minor changes.

Thanks.

No plants
No pets
No coffee table (we did have one, got tired of my kids dancing on it when
friends let their kids do it - sigh)

That's really all I can think of. I don't have certain outdoor things I'd
like but that's cos it's humid and things get moldy here, not cos of the
kids. And there are certain decorating things I don't do cos we're in base
housing, not cos of the kids.

Sophie
#4 due July 7, 2004

"ted" wrote in message
om...

So I thought I would ask what small lifestyle changes did you make
when your kids were little (less than 5 years old?) I know having kids
changes your whole world but I'm asking about minor changes.

What an interesting idea for discussion, Ted.

Lets see... small lifestyle changes that come with a baby...

Plastic diningroom table protector and no-iron napkins rather than starched
linen.
I haven't ironed my clothing since Sarah started to crawl.
I'm not sure I own anything that needs drycleaning anymore. Anything that
fits, I mean.
The television is mounted on the wall near the ceiling, out of toddler (and
five foot mommy) reach, giving our formerly elegant living room a vaguely
"sports-bar" appearence (which my husband finds to be an improvement).
I no longer yearn for a nice new car. If they're going to stuff goldfish in
the airconditioning vents, let them do it to the 9 year old tracker.
Three words: molded plastic everywhere



Donna

ted wrote:

I was thinking of making curtains for my living room. DH was saying
the kids will wipe their faces on them and/or pull at them so we
should wait for few years. I can't deny this because I distinctly
remember doing that when I was little. Also, I was checking out nice
planters for indoor plants and I thought about the same thing.

So I thought I would ask what small lifestyle changes did you make
when your kids were little (less than 5 years old?) I know having kids
changes your whole world but I'm asking about minor changes.

To be perfectly honest, we really didn't make many
changes, aside from attempting to be more scrupulous about
keeping clutter picked up (with varying degrees of success,
depending ;-) It would never have occurred to me to avoid
curtains because of kids. I have occasionally had to tell
them to stop messing with the curtains, but that's it. I
probably wouldn't advise curtains that couldn't be cleaned.
The pets have been more of an issue with the curtains than
then kids ;-)
That said, I am sure there are kids who would
inspire me to make some changes. I don't think my kids
are unusually placid, but they haven't been such that
we had to make more changes. Of course, now that I've
said that, #3 will turn our house upside down ;-)

Best wishes,
Ericka

ted wrote:
So I thought I would ask what small lifestyle changes did you make
when your kids were little (less than 5 years old?) I know having kids
changes your whole world but I'm asking about minor changes.

Those darn kids are expensive so if I had my money back I'd do all kinds of
things ;-) I suppose that is a big change though.

Small changes:

No more night life sigh
knick knacks are up
cd's are up
table cloths are history
less camping, although we hope to start that again this summer - it won't be
the same as pre-kids though
less reading
No more eating out for purely the enjoyment and atmosphere. We only eat out
now if I just can't bear the thought of cooking and then we always go
somewhere the kids can cope with.

It is a little hard to remember what I did with all my time before having
kids. Not only are the actual kids keeping me busy but I cook meals every
day, all the extra housework etc. What did I do??? lol. I actually watch
more tv now so that isn't it!

Oh yea - it was worth it though '-)


--
Nikki
Mama to Hunter (5) and Luke (3)

ted wrote:
So I thought I would ask what small lifestyle changes did you make
when your kids were little (less than 5 years old?) I know having kids
changes your whole world but I'm asking about minor changes.

Temporary changes included no books on the bottom shelves of the bookcases (we
put toys there instead -- *really* should have anchored the bookcases to the
wall, in fact still should, but they made it through a major earthquake okay in
that state), no chairs in the dining room unless company was eating there, no
big Christmas trees.

We've left the curtains, but they're curtains that we could in theory just wash
and iron and put back up (do we ever DO this? well, not very often ...). I do
once in a while have to yell at my son not to wind himself up in a curtain, but
it's not a constant battle or anything.

--Helen

"ted" wrote in message
om...
I was thinking of making curtains for my living room. DH was saying
the kids will wipe their faces on them and/or pull at them so we
should wait for few years. I can't deny this because I distinctly
remember doing that when I was little. Also, I was checking out nice
planters for indoor plants and I thought about the same thing.

So I thought I would ask what small lifestyle changes did you make
when your kids were little (less than 5 years old?) I know having kids
changes your whole world but I'm asking about minor changes.

Thanks.

Hmmm... little changes?

We don't have curtains (but we never did), instead we have various sorts of
roman and london blinds or small quilts for the windows.
No plants.
Board books behind our little cabinet door.
Tupperware and pots and pans in the bottom cabinets. Breakables are all in
the upper cabinets. (DD didn't climb. I'm hoping DS won't have that talent
either.)
No non-animated movies
Our car now have towels draped on the seats.

Jeanne

ted wrote:

I was thinking of making curtains for my living room. DH was saying
the kids will wipe their faces on them and/or pull at them so we
should wait for few years. I can't deny this because I distinctly
remember doing that when I was little. Also, I was checking out nice
planters for indoor plants and I thought about the same thing.

So I thought I would ask what small lifestyle changes did you make
when your kids were little (less than 5 years old?) I know having kids
changes your whole world but I'm asking about minor changes.

We're much tidier now, which doesn't come naturally to me.

--
Sara, accompanied by the baby barnacle

On 17 May 2004 13:02:15 -0700, (ted) wrote:

I was thinking of making curtains for my living room. DH was saying
the kids will wipe their faces on them and/or pull at them so we
should wait for few years. I can't deny this because I distinctly
remember doing that when I was little. Also, I was checking out nice
planters for indoor plants and I thought about the same thing.

So I thought I would ask what small lifestyle changes did you make
when your kids were little (less than 5 years old?) I know having kids
changes your whole world but I'm asking about minor changes.

No tablecloths on the table (it's easier to wipe down the wood than to
wash every day), coffee table was hard up against the cabinets to keep
the kids out until they started sitting and climbing on it, then it
went into the garage, no lightbulbs in certain bedrooms where children
can reach the light switch and refuse to believe that I mean it when I
say "lights out".

As for the pot plants, I did think of two things to try instead of
getting rid of the plants altogether. I haven't had to do these
myself because the kids are that little bit older, but you could
either use that coconut fibre mulch stuff that is harder for the kids
to get out because it comes in a big clump, or you could buy some
shadecloth and cut it to fit over the potting mix in the pot. Both of
these have the added advantage of helping conserve moisture in the
soil too.


--
Cheryl
Mum to Shrimp (11 Mar 99), Thud (4 Oct 00)
and Mischief (30 Jul 02)

On 17 May 2004 13:02:15 -0700, (ted) wrote:
I was thinking of making curtains for my living room. DH was saying
the kids will wipe their faces on them and/or pull at them so we
should wait for few years. I can't deny this because I distinctly
remember doing that when I was little. Also, I was checking out nice
planters for indoor plants and I thought about the same thing.
So I thought I would ask what small lifestyle changes did you make
when your kids were little (less than 5 years old?) I know having kids
changes your whole world but I'm asking about minor changes.

Well I had a baby before I had my own place, so there really was no
"changes" from pre-child life. I did do some things differently with
each child though, and with each child we had more stuff to deal with.
With my first two kids, the kitchen was blocked off so they did not go
in it until they were past the dangerous stage of tasting and
climbing, but with my third we moved to a more open home so we put
cabinet locks on all but one cabinet(that cabinet is for the toddler,
I keep sugar and flour and that type of thing in tightly closed
containers and she takes them out to play with and stack). I have
learned to cook using the back burners on the stove and being more
careful not to spill boiling water when carrying it around.
As for curtains, I do don't remember bothering them, or remember my
younger brother bothering them. My own kids never bothered our
curtains, either. No children I've babysat have bothered the curtains.
So that is a new one to me!
Things like knick-knacks have been put up high, or on my bedroom
dresser where the kids couldn't get to them. I only put corner
protectors on the piano, because my two youngest ones are prone to
forehead bashing on the corners. The bottom shelves of bookshelves or
entertainment centers only have boardbooks and toys.
A bigger change I've made is to be less of a pack rat. There's just
not enough room for that kind of thing.
Marie