Manage the Boys’ Room – Part 3

I was in a conversation with some moms not too long ago, about how they were decorating their boys’ rooms. One was doing a jungle theme, and another had done a sports theme. To try to contribute to the conversation I considered what the theme would be called in our house.

I settled on ‘Prison.’

I haven’t done it on purpose. It just happened. My boys destroy things. As things get destroyed I am more hesitant to replace them with new nice things.

As a result there is not much left in their room.

Currently in the boys’ room there are two beds, three pictures on the wall, and six plastic bins.

There used to be a 3-tiered bookshelf in the room that held toys. It was used to climb out the window a few too many times.

There used to be a dresser in the room. But they didn’t use it like a dresser most of the time. It was usually a bridge to get from one bed to the other without touching the lava (aka, the floor), or as a launching pad for the parachutist, or as a ladder.

That’s why this happened:

(Sorry my photography is so bad. I’m working on it.)

I was pretty upset when I discovered they had broken the bottom drawer of the dresser. At first I had no idea what to do as a punishment or consequence. I didn’t know who had actually broken it, or how long it had been like that. But as I pondered about what to do, a solution came. Once I could talk about it calmly with them I presented the plan.

To start, they no longer had the privilege of a dresser. They had broken it, so it was gone. This left a problem of where to store their clothes.

The boys had recently been given quite a bit of money for Christmas. They had big plans for that money. But instead of getting to buy what they wanted, they had to buy plastic bins that would hold their clothes since my boys were no longer trusted with a dresser. We talked about where they could store their bins and decided that under the bed was a good place. We took measurements (and they had to help me) to make sure we got a size that would fit. Once we had bought the bins, they were welcome to spend whatever money they had left (which ended up being only about $2.50).

I love the plastic bin solution! It has made it so much easier for them to put their clean clothes away (not that they do). I let them choose pictures for the labels that we taped on each bin. (see  blurry picture at top)

I don’t have to worry about any more broken dressers, or broken arms. The bins are not tall enough to really get a good launch.

The best part is that since the boys purchased them with their own money, they take pretty good care of those plastic bins.

Some day their clothes will be too big to fit in those bins, and I’m sure we’ll find a new solution. Maybe they will get to buy their own dresser.

Ooh, I like that idea. 🙂