Do You Allow DCK's On Your Furniture?

[cheerfuldom]

No daycare kids on my furniture in the house. No daycare kids on my chair in the playroom. The rules are different for my own kids and they all have to learn that and I don't feel bad about it. Our old couch was ruined by dirty hands, slobber and throw up. When I first started, I let the daycare kids and parents get WAY to comfy in my home. No more.

[daycare]

I have a dedicated room for DC. However the kids have to pass through my living room to get to the front door. I dont allow them on the sofas or any other furniture. I actually have in my PHB that my living room is not child proofed and therefore children are not permitted in any part of it.

If someone trys to sit on it I will tell them feet on the floor or I will remove them myself.

[thecrazyisout]

I do not have furniture either. Wooden wipeable surfaces only.

When I did have furniture, I only allowed those with undies to be on it and if they didn't sit properly, they were banned from it. After awhile, everyone was banned from it so I just ditched it all together because what was the point if no one was ever allowed to use it.

I have furniture, and NEVER allow the children to sit on it. There may be times where I have one family and the older of the two is bored, so I will sit on the couch with them and play a game or read books.

But, generally, the are never allowed

[Live and Learn]

No dc kids on furniture ....unless I invite them up to snuggle in for a book.

[ammama]

They are allowed on my furniture. I bought a couch with washable covers, just for that reason. We play in the living room all the time (connected to the playroom, and I don't have a gate or anything there, so it is just part of the playspace), and sometimes it's nice to just snuggle up on the couch and read a book, or whatever.

I have never had a child pee on the couch/chairs (they wear diapers until totally potty trained), and we only eat in the kitchen. I clean up their hands and face (and shirt ect if needed) as they exit the kitchen so that food doesn't get smeared in.

They are not allowed upstairs in our bedrooms, or in the basement where the family room is.

[SandeeAR]

I have never had a child pee on the couch/chairs (they wear diapers until totally potty trained),

That is what made my decision for me, she WAS in a diaper, one that an hour earlier had been dry. She flooded thru the diaper and on to my couch!




I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one. Our home is small, our play area is in my main living area of the house. So I must have furniture for us.

[Lucy]

Our daycare space is also our main living space. If I told the kids they weren't allowed to sit on the furniture, I think their parents would be a bit perturbed when their children came home and said Ms K won't let us sit on the furniture. I look at it as I decided to open my home to other peoples kids, so I deal with what comes with it.
Yes I get very aggravated when I am wiping buggers off the couch for the 50th time, but I can't imagine the stress in trying to keep them off of it. They do not jump or play rough on the furniture though. If they start that, they are told they have to sit on the floor.

Same for me. For awhile I didn't let them on it, but it was more stress constantly policing it than it was to just let them go for it. I don't let them drink or eat while on the couch of course, but stuff happens. I think of it like you said -- I opened my house up to kids, and my motto is that I treat them as I would my own nieces and nephews if they came for a visit, and I certainly would not tell my nieces and nephews they can't sit on my couch! My furniture is almost 20 years old, so at this point, I don't care! I've done daycare for 17 of those years. If I wasn't doing daycare, I would have bought new furniture LONG ago!

[Abigail]

I really like having a child-only space. It's hard enough getting cat hair off my furniture with the vacuum and throw blankets over their favorite spots. I'm not willing to be scrubbing my furniture from accidents/vomit/mud/etc. I'm purchasing child-friendly furniture for the reading area and I have child-sized chairs to sit at the table. The living and work space will be almost completely separate. If I could own a separate building I probably would.

I know a lot of people believe in family child care as a home-like setting, but it's also a lower number setting so it is still a benefit to the family even if it is not setup like a home in the daycare area.

[TBird]

I have a separate daycare area but I do have one love seat in there. I really only use it for Quiet Time stories. Otherwise they're not allowed on it because it's dangerous...they think it's roll around and play time or sit on each other and fall off time. Floor or kid seating is so much safer (and easier to keep clean).

[nannyde]

I watch two centers cameras for my consulting business and they have kiddie furniture in their carpeted play area (which I call the WAR ZONE). I have my "no furniture" rule vindicated every single day when I watch the way those kids act on the furniture.

[marniewon]

No dc kids on furniture ....unless I invite them up to snuggle in for a book.

Yep, this! If they are invited up to sit next to/on my lap, they may come up. Otherwise, they are not allowed to even lean against my furniture. Oh, and no toys on the furniture (including the coffee table).

Same for me. For awhile I didn't let them on it, but it was more stress constantly policing it than it was to just let them go for it.

I guess I really don't understand that - you can't get them to stay off the furniture just by making the rule and enforcing it until they learn it? I have had at one point 4 kids under 3 and all of them learned very quickly not to touch the furniture, much less try to climb on it. Only VERY occasionally will I need to "remind" someone to not TOUCH it (at this point they don't even try to climb up anymore).

I used to worry about what the parents would think about them not being allowed on my furniture, but I figure, they didn't pay for it, they won't be paying for my time to clean it, or pay to have it professionally cleaned, so, my house, my rules.

[SunflowerMama]

I allow them on the furniture. I have one playroom just dedicated to childcare but the rest of the main level is also used daily (kitchen, living, dining). We don't have a huge main level so we use it all.

We do crafts and other activities at the dinning room table, cook and create in the kitchen and they use the couch and love seat in the living room for reading books, playing doctor, making a fort or for a "baby's bed" while playing house.

With the excepting of 1 all my kids are age 3-5 so they are all potty trained and all know that if we jump or attempt flips off the furniture it's off-limits for the day.

[Lucy]

I guess I really don't understand that - you can't get them to stay off the furniture just by making the rule and enforcing it until they learn it? I have had at one point 4 kids under 3 and all of them learned very quickly not to touch the furniture, much less try to climb on it. Only VERY occasionally will I need to "remind" someone to not TOUCH it (at this point they don't even try to climb up anymore).

I have a majority of school age kids. I have the pleasure of having families who start with me as babies and stay till they are older. One started as soon as mom got off maternity leave and she is now 11 1/2. One started at 9 months and is now 7 1/2 and I have his 2 1/2 yr old sister. Also have another 7 yr old who started at age 2. I like to treat them as family and would not ask family to sit on the floor. Rest assured they are all good on the furniture. I don't allow monkey business. If someone were to start jumping, climbing, etc., they would not be allowed to use it till they prove they can behave.

I'm not knocking anyone's decision. If I had nice furniture, I would likely do the same thing. If I had a dedicated Daycare space, there probably wouldn't be furniture in there anyway. I'd have maybe bean bags or something. But my Daycare space is my living room.

[boysx5]

I only have a rocking chair and they all know its Ms. Julie's chair the floor is fine for them they have lots of area to play and run

[SilverSabre25]

I do...but the main furniture they have access to is a couch I despise. It makes a useful "toy" when it turns into a boat, a car, a train, a plane...and it's really cute, the games they come up with. The couch frankly ****s, I don't care how they treat it, and the cushions don't come off of it.

They're not allowed to stand on it though--not safe. Nor jump off it. But they don't usually try.