Do You Allow DCK's On Your Furniture?

[juliebug]

they get to use my kitchen table and chairs only. I have a dedicated toy room for them with kid size chairs and table other than that floor is mighty nice.

[melskids]

i have a dedicated space for DC, but we always end up using the whole house.

mine can sit in the furniture providing they follow the rules. they have to sit properly. if they dont, i have no problem kicking them off. we end up on the floor everytime

its usually the SA i have a problem with too

the SA like to play in my sons room, which is OK with me (and him) but thats the only place i put my foot down. they sit on the floor. NO BED. not only because they are animals, but because i dont want other kids germs and goobers all over my kids pillow. yuck!

[sahm2three]

I wish I had an area dedicated to just daycare, but I don't. So, yes, the kids are allowed on my furniture. If they stand, walk, jump, roll on or off of any of my furniture, they are told 1 time to "sit or get down" and if they do it again, they are off of the furniture for the day. I have a white board that I write their name on if they are not allowed on the furniture (so that I remember, !) and they have to sit on floor pillows on the floor. Also, unless we are watching a video, they aren't allowed on the furniture anyways. No need as they need to be playing. And I don't allow toys on the furniture. Toys are played with on the floor. I don't have super nice furniture, and don't plan on getting anything new until I am done with daycare or until they make kid proof furniture! My mom and I recovered our couch and will just spend $50 every couple years to redo it until the couch starts falling apart! Food and drink spills aren't an issue because I don't allow food or drink anywhere but the dining room or kitchen.

[Unregistered]

I allow kids on the furniture downstairs in the basment which is our usual play space. Both couch and chair are older and have a pattern which hids the yuck pretty well. However this is a privlidge and my kids only very rarely need to be reminded of it. My girls like to pretend they are babies or at the dr and lay on the couch while another one takes care of them but for the most part the furniture is not used much by the dck anyway.

My furniture upstairs is off limits. The kids are only in the living room when I am making lunch and when they are waiting for the bus (always late) to pick up the am K kids. They all sit on the floor and read books. No questions. Parents have never said anything about it to me and Im sure any parent can guess why that is the reason anyhow.

[Unregistered]

treating kids with respect, and furniture with respect

I think it is kind of absurd and rude to expect children to be floor bound all day. I once had a sitter who didn't want kids using her bathroom (she had a potty on the back porch). I told my mom, she pulled us. I can't imagine being told I couldn't sit on a couch or chair and being someplace all day long. Little kids in a play room with a good set up part time, ok....but imagine how you would feel going somewhere to spend the day, every day, and not being allowed to sit anywhere but the floor?

Kids are people too. Teach them how to care for furniture. Put your self in their position. And - if it is your rule - tell parents up front, at the interview or before - I don't allow your kids to touch my furniture in the room where were are most of the day.

DO you expect kids to learn how to treat furniture by watching tv? Home based daycare is a lot like life.

[kidkair]

If you don't allow them on it then technically you are not suppose to count that space as part of your square footage which may run you into problems with licensing. I have basically made my living room a toy room only. My actual living room is in another part of the house. I do have a couch for them in the living room and for awhile they were fine with it. Then for a time they started pushing each other off or sliding off head first while another kid jumped off. I tried to enforce the sitting nicely on it rules but they would disobey whenever I left the room. So I took it away and hid it behind bookcases so they had no access for about a month. Then I brought it back out as I had no where else to store it in the house. I put strict rules that they could not touch it at all. After a month of that I let them climb on it to get a book (small bookshelf above the couch to keep books from babies) but they have to bring the book to the floor and return it to the shelf when done. Oh and only one kid is allowed to be getting a book at a time. It's worked out great for the past few months now. Helps that I've only got two and a schoolager. I also like the fact that they get to practice their climbing skills in a safe controlled way. The rest of the daycare is set up for floor based play.

[Jewels]

My furniture is all in the daycare space I use daily everyday, the kids are all allowed on the furniture, its there, and I have never noticed boogers or big drool spots, no one has ever peed or pooped on it, and if someone did right now it would be my own daughter, who has been ripping her clothes and diaper off. I have nice furniture, but it is all passed down from family, so I have not actually paid any money, except my table, which the finish has been destroyed by the children, but you can't really make them eat on the floor.
The kids are even allowed to play in my room throughout the day, in the early morning its in my room and my bed that all the kids pile and watch morning cartoons until breakfast, my whole upstairs is very open, and opens right onto my master suite, so they love, it, I just treat them like my own children.

[Stacy214]

Yea, I do allow, I purchased my furniture with the children in mind, its washable...(my mind may change if I had a pee pee accident )but I have opened my home to them and want them to be comfortable. They have to follow rules and sit nice (no jumping or tumbling of course). This is basically their home away from home