A kid’s room is about creating a space where they can play and relax but also gives them a functional room. There are many important life lessons to be learned from having your own room but the setup of the room goes a long way towards ensuring these lessons are learned effectively.
In many ways, the transition needs to happen across the home. You should assign your kids a play area or room and explain how it is the same as mum and dad’s office. They should receive a drawer with their own bathroom supplies, so they start to think independently. Even a garden bed where they can grow their own plants can go a long way towards helping them to switch from a dependent mindset to an independent mindset.
As giving a child their own room is the first step towards helping them to understand autonomy and teach responsibility, every opportunity to reinforce this lesson is important. Decorating the room should focus on enhancing its safety and comfort but with an eye towards how the kids will evolve as they grow older. Their future needs must be reflected in the design of the room. Striking that balance between a practical bedroom and another playroom can help to wean your child away from climbing into your bed every night.
Less is More
Simple furnishings is best for a small child as their focus will be on their toys and items. The decoration can be focused on clean pastel walls with pictures of family and a thick rug on the floor where they can comfortably play.
The neutrality of the space means that your child will not need to make drastic changes as they grow older and can naturally apply their evolving tastes to the room.
Design for Height
As adults, we tend to choose furniture and decorations that suit our tastes. Even when it comes to our kid’s rooms, we think about when they will be our size and plan ahead. But if you want your child to learn about their evolving needs and plan for them instead of always relying on you to think for them, you have to think about their current needs.
Small children are small and need furniture that is their size. A low bed that is easy for them to climb into and kid-sized tables and chairs are available from many outlets. These small size furniture items are going to be much more comfortable for your child. Their comfort comes first as this will be what makes them grow attached to their room and want to spend the time in it.
Open shelving, low-slung cabinets, and command hooks at their head height can help them to participate in putting away their clothes, toys, and arranging their books and crayons the way they want. This type of autonomy developed early has a better chance of carrying over as they grow older.
Incorporate Play Elements
A functional room can still have many elements of play. This is important for making your child want to spend time in the room. This is how you get them to want to spend the night in their room and avoid depending on sneaking into your bed every night.
There are many ways to appeal to their distinct taste in play. A kid who likes to bake would happily spend hours in their room if you put a play kitchen in one corner. There are beds that incorporate rock-climbing walls and slides which can keep your active kid happy while indoors. Chalkboard walls can keep an artsy child occupied for hours.
Decorate According to Their Tastes
Parents often incorporate design elements that really happy childhood moments for them. If you loved Peter Rabbit as a child, it makes sense to want your child to develop a love for Beatrix Potters books as well. But the best you can do is get your child the toys and books and hope they naturally come across. Turning their bedroom into a shrine for Peter Rabbit may have the exact opposite effect of what you want. Even small children yearn to be heard and seen as independent people.
Listen to your child’s input when choosing the decorations. If they want a transformer poster next to the peter rabbit portrait, accept that it speaks to their unique character. Give them fairy lights along one wall and paste glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. You can still find ways to make it special. Paste the stars according to real constellations. This may inspire your kid to want to learn more about astronomy.
Do not despair if you have a small space, there are plenty of ways to make the most out of a small room. Even if the space seems small to you, your small child will find it delightful and just right.
Look online for inspirations on how to make the most out of the space. You can get a bedroom set where the bed is suspended above as a bunk bed would be but the bottom half is a work desk or a play area.
Some parents have even given their children hammocks to sleep in which can be pushed aside on a curtain rod-style arrangement. This frees up the entire room space for them to stretch out and play.
