Seating

[CraftyMom]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one! It doesn't matter what group I have, child sized furniture has been a nightmare. I do have my family couches and I would LOVE to ban them from sitting on them but don't really know how to enforce it. I have had major issues with kids standing on and jumping on my furniture and I'm so sick of it. I wonder if they are allowed to do it at home?!

What I did is I warned them, "If you can't use my furniture the right way then you don't get to use it at all". I warned once, then it was "Ok, since you can't use my furniture the right way now you have to sit on the floor." Every time they try to go on the furniture I remind them they have to sit on the floor or go back in the playroom. They caught on quickly and now they don't even try, they just sit on the floor.

And yes, they are allowed at home, or at least it isn't enforced at home. When I talk to the parents I always hear "yeah they do that at home too..." but nothing about them trying to stop it

I should add, this is after a lot of trying to get them to stop jumping and climbing and being unsuccessful

[sarah33]

I don't have that problem with the kids as their parents have trained them really well how to behave. happyface

I have a Land of Nod activity table and four chairs that I got used on craigslist. I bought the Brand New World school-age couch on wayfair (don't go there - pay the bit extra on Amazon). My best purchase was two poufs I got from Land of Nod. Aqua and beautiful, they were only $80 apiece. Fabric poufs at Target are the same price! They also have a lock on the zipper so they can't get the stuffing out. Love them!

[Blackcat31]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one! It doesn't matter what group I have, child sized furniture has been a nightmare. I do have my family couches and I would LOVE to ban them from sitting on them but don't really know how to enforce it. I have had major issues with kids standing on and jumping on my furniture and I'm so sick of it. I wonder if they are allowed to do it at home?!:mad:

Oh, and don't ask....because I had a couple kids who said yes! When I asked mom she said "yes they can why? Don't you let them?"

I had a sofa for a long time. I used it and a couple littles would nap on it but after so many older preschoolers jumped on it and did other acrobatic things off of it, I banned them from it.

I just told them if I caught them touching it or sitting on it, they would have a consequence. They did pretty good with staying off of it but after a while I figured what was the point of having this big piece of furniture that I had to basically "manage" so I just got rid of it.

I know you live in your space so you can't just toss your sofa but I would seriously ban all the kids from using it. And I would NOT feel bad about it one single bit.

[SilverSabre25]

I know you live in your space so you can't just toss your sofa but I would seriously ban all the kids from using it. And I would NOT feel bad about it one single bit.

Ours is gradually heading that way. I'm appalled at the things Mr almost-2 in particular does to the furniture....and he's borderlin "obsessed" with it because he spends a lot of his play time wanting to sit/lay on the chair and couch.

[Heidi]

I have tried a ton of things as well.....

The kids loved the beanbags but fought over and dragged them around.
I don't let the daycare kids on our family furniture.
I have two adult sized upholstered chairs in our playroom but the daycare kids aren't allowed on them.
I have a futon from Ikea that is in there that they are allowed on but they rarely get on.
I have a kid sized long folding table that we use occasionally
I have two of the Little Tikes table and chairs sets that do get pulled from the room sometimes from the kids rearranging them constantly
I have a terrible time with the kids trying to climb into the doll sized high chairs...might have to get rid of those chairs.
I also had a crib mattress (covered) in our reading area and that only worked well when attendance was low or if it was just my kids playing there otherwise the kids would fit over that space and the pillows on it.
I just bought a kid sized recliner that I am going to try out in our reading nook

If it's one with the bar that raises up, just tie it shut. I notice they've changed the design in one catalog, and they've entirely dropped them from another. Probably because the new wisdom is "child sized furniture" for real kiddos, so we don't want to confuse them (or us) with high chairs. ::

[SignMeUp]

For a "high chair" in a play space, would this work? I use a similar chair, different brand, for my infant feeding chairs. http://www.constructiveplaythings.co...-chairries-r-9

My doll cradle is 3/4" plywood. 2-3 kids can sit in it, or one can lay in it. It's meant for kids to be in it.

[nothingwithoutjoy]

My living space is my child-care space, and I value the fact that kids get to be in a home, rather than in a classroom space. Curling up on the couch to read together is one of my favorite things. I use a gate to keep kids out of my dining room and office--family-only spaces. But we use everything in the rooms they're in. We do have a crummy couch because it gets hard use (free from Freecycle). But I don't allow jumping on the couch or armchairs, and it bugs me that apparently all the kids are allowed to jump at home--it's a hard one to convince them of! Our coffee table has two kid-sized chairs pulled up to it, and the kids sometimes sit there to play; sometimes stand. We have a nice cozy rug, so we enjoy sitting on the floor. In the kitchen, I have child-height tables with kid chairs (I used to have IKEA chairs, but they didn't hold up to constant use by lots of kids; even respectful use. Then I was really lucky and scored some freebies from a kindergarten--sturdy wood chairs probably 50 years old and still going strong.) In the studio, we use nice sturdy stools I got at Target ($20 each, I think) and those have held up beautifully.

[cheerfuldom]

We have 6 of these chairs (which we got second-hand)


They are fantastic- lightweight, durable, multi-use.

I would kill for some of these! LOL they are pricey but look so fun and functional.

[misslori50]

i have the stools from ikea

[Jack Sprat]

None here as well. We used to have a futon in the playroom but, it was being misused and took up a lot of space. I have a couch and chair in our living room and a recliner, couch and rocking chair in the den. The dck's are not allowed on any furniture in the living room or den. We use our dining room table for crafts etc. I am thinking of adding a small card table to the playroom and cutting the legs down. That way its kid size and I can fold it up and move it out if need be.

[WImom]

I have two foam fuzzy chairs (character ones) in my reading center and a small table/chair set in the kitchen center. The kids here so far have done okay with them, sometimes they need reminders.