Conference moira::parenting_v3

    
    
    There is a new product out that is similar to the Post-Its memo pads in 
    it's stickability and removability.  It consists of a border background and 
    you apply characters and scenery to the border, all of which are removable 
    and reapplicable.  They have scenes involving cowboys, balloons, under-
    the-sea, teddy bears, etc. I've been eyeing it for a few months now and 
    might buy it for 2 of my guys who share a room (4 1/2 and 26 months).
    
    In the past I have put new curtains in their rooms, made throw pillows
    with really bright fabric with characters on it, for example, zoo
    animals or birds or teddy bears.  I also have a series of mobiles
    that I have put up, airplanes, or an unusually shaped mobile with
    bright colored disks (not necessarily a child one, but interesting
    to them just the same).  You might even hang a kite from the ceiling,
    tacking its tail up along the ceiling.
    
    If he likes Winnie the Pooh, as does my son, you might consider putting
    up pictures from the stories.  I bought a copy of the Shepard color 
    illustrations from the original World of Pooh (6 in all).  They are 
    13 x 15 or so and I matted and framed them and put them up.  These
    seem to have been a favorite with my oldest and have lasted 2 years so
    far.
    
    Singular themes when the children are this age can be risky.  They
    are changing so quickly that they can soon tire of a particular sub-
    ject.  THAT's why I made the pillows "throw" pillows!  :-)    
    
    
    Good luck and enjoy yourself!
    
    dorothy
                                                                  

   I have no experience with an almost 3yr old yet, so maybe someone
   else can comment on that part, but are you sure that he's too young
   to help pick?  Maybe not directly in the store, but what about
   picking colors and/or a general theme from a small sample that you
   pre-selected?
   
   Instead of specific characters, how about some other type of theme?
   Maybe balloons, or trains, or .... almost anything, actually.  Does
   he show any special interest in a particular occupation or other
   non character theme?

   Good luck... keep us posted..
   
   - Tom
   

    Our plan was to wallpaper in a print paper (white with primary color
    lines) and we could change the border as their taste changed.  Curtains
    with bold prints can easily be changed as well.  Clowns/circus prints
    one year, trains/palnes, etc.  Unfortunately, we moved before we
    finished the decorating. 
    
    Now they each have their own room and they are old enough to decide. 
    My problem now is that they both want the same thing! 
    
    -sandy
    

    Andrea,
    
    I don't have any suggestions, but I just have to know....how did 
    you decorate his first room that "made everyone just giggle"?
    
    Inquiring minds want to know :-)
    Carol

    Carol,
    
    I had the Boynton characters border - the famous "Chocoholic"
    characters; you'll see them in the Hallmark stores. Most of them have
    the stupidest expressions on their faces. They were all holding balloons. 
    I had a coordinating striped wallpaper. The wallpaper and border stopped 
    at mid-window level. I had balloons hanging as well as kites. We got some 
    of those giant crayons and some of the Boynton character stuffed
    animals for the wicker chair. I also had a few plants in colored
    baskets with bows. I found some cute framed pictures with characters
    with balloons or kites. I had a real cute growth chart hanging on his
    closet door. 
    
    I think it was the wallpaper that did it (for the price I paid, if I
    didn't laugh, I'd cry). The place I bought it from (actually the folks
    who did all our draperies in the house) has used it a number of times
    when contracted to do total decorating. The woman calls me occasionally
    to ask where I inquired about some of the Boynton accent pieces 
    (bumper pads, comforters, etc) it has been such a hit. Unfortunately,
    the accent pieces were all primary colors and we were using the
    semi-pastel colored wallpaper (dark peach, yellow-gold, sea foam green,
    colonial blue) so I never got any of the accent pieces. 
    
    If you are looking to redo a bathroom, they have a hysterical
    wallpaper with the Boynton hippo characters in bathroom scenes
    (brushing their teeth, with shower caps on, on the scale, etc). I would
    probably make my morning!!!
    
    Andrea

    An inexpensive alternative for decorating is stenciling.  When my son
    was born, I had purchased a crib set and wall hanging with a cute bear
    motif, then just made a stencil (traced the bear in the wall hanging),
    and stenciled a border around the room.  It's a tremendous savings over
    wallpaper, and you can just paint over it when it's time to redecorate.
    Have fun!
    
    /michele

    I like to change the entire look of the room often (like every 1-2
    years) without spending much money, so this is what I do:
    	- buy solid color curtains/drapes, dust ruffle, and rug
    	- pick a sheet set or let the child pick it - one that goes well 
    	  with the solid colors in the room
    	- make a new cover for the down comforter out of the top sheet from 
    	  the set + a solid color sheet  ("duvet" style, this serves as top
    	  sheet, blanket, and bedcover (instead of a bedspread))
    
    For example, Sally's dust ruffle and curtains are light blue.  Her
    first set was Sesame Street characters on light blue letters.  Her
    current set is a giant dollhouse pattern that she plays on and the
    pillowcase has a sun/moon on it.
     
                        

I'd like to share what my sister-in-law just did to redecorate her four year
old daughters room.  

She painted it a light pink and plans to stencil the walls too. The border 
pieces are painted white.  Inexpensive but fancy, she used pillow cases
that can be draped or gathered over a rod for curtains.  She picked white
with a lace border.

Half of the room contains the bed and bureaus.  Since childrens clothes are
small, she used a closet organizer (closet maid, I think) that gave her
additional shelf space.  The other half is set up as a play area. On one 
wall is a four shelf, wide bookcase that has everything from books to 
favorite toys.  There is her doll house, kitchen play area, and table and
chairs.  Her daughter loves to draw so she also has plenty of crayons,
paints, and paper to do so.  She is setting up a rack with wooden hooks
to hang up her daughters favorite dress up costumes keeping them easily 
in her reach.  She'll have a mirror on the back of the bedroom door too.
She plans to put up some track lighting on this side of the room too.

For decorating the walls, she is framing in wooden frames, some of her 
daughters better art work.  

The room is very very cute and quite fun for a girl at this age.  The verdict,
Kailyn loves it and is very proud of her paintings.  Plus she enjoys spending
time in it with or without her friends.
                         

    FYI... Just saw the Colorforms, Post-IT and "?" (Sesame Street, Mickey
    Mouse, etc) decorator stick-ons at "Wallpaper to Go" on Route 9 in
    Framingham.
    
    I decided to buy 2 packages of the Sesame Street ones to decorate my
    basement playroom.  The room is four walls, no windows, with blue
    commercial tile -- a "real" playroom filled with ride-on toys,
    chalkboard/paint easel, slide, toddler activity gym, table & chairs,
    etc...   No adult furniture - yet - other than folding chairs!!
    
    The Bird Bird package contained a four foot Big-Bird, a 10 inch "Baby
    Bird", and all the letters of the alphabet (approx 5 inches tall).
    
    The Bert and Ernie package (not opened yet) I think contains a 3 foot
    Bert and Ernie, a ruler, chalk package and two pieces of chalk
    (stick-ons, not real!), a chalkboard (actually works with real chalk)
    and a globe.  There may be other items....
    
    You simply cut out the figures and stick them on the walls.  They
    easily remove and can me used again and/or moved around.  
    
    They are really bright, fun and cute at only $14.98 a package.
    
    The Colorforms and Post-It products come with a 15 foot border that you
    have to paste on your wall and little figures that you stick on/off the
    border -- basically a huge Colorform scene. 
    
    I chose the other because the Colorform and Post-It products were
    not recommended for children under 3.
    
    -- Laurel

    Laurel, 
    
    Those sound real cute - plus you can put them where you want them.
    I really like the alphabet one.
    
    Something else I have seen which was great a first sight was a wall
    mural wallpaper with all the characters (abstract drawings of children
    around the world) just outlined in black. The idea was that either you
    or the children could color it in. Sounds like fun but when you think
    about what it actually teaches the children, I don't know if I'm real
    thrilled with it. I can imagine chilren grabbing their crayons anytime
    they see black and white wallpaper and "helping" to color it in. It 
    does also come pre-colored as well.
    
    Andrea

    Andrea,
    
    I received a catlog this weekend (Ultimate Outlet from Spiegel) that 
    had some children's bedding in it that I absolutely adore.  In fact,
    I'm trying to talk myself out of ordering it, since Jason won't be
    ready for a real bed for probably at least another year!!   
    
    The comforter and drapes are a very bright jungle print with dinosaurs,
    hippos, alligators, and elephants in red, yellow, green, blue, and
    *plum/purple*  (I thought of this note when I saw them).   The line is
    complete with stuffed pillows in the animal shapes.  I think it would
    be adorable in a young boy's room.   I would finish the room by
    stealing an idea from a friend's son's room...she had hung some stuffed
    dinosaurs and kites with dinosaurs on them from the ceiling.   It was
    just great! 
    
    Carol

    Last weekend I saw a GREAT idea for decorating a kids room.
    
    Colorforms makes wall borders in at least two patterns: a dollhouse
    with lots of rooms and a town with lots of lots of shops, firehouse,
    etc.  They are about two feet wide and have a smooth surface.  Then
    they come with people and furniture or vehicles and other things to
    stick on them and move around!
    
    The box showed these placed at floor level and a few feet up, where a
    kid could get at them while standing.
    
    I saw them at Montgomery Ward in Bedford, NH.

    A member of my family recently covered one wall of their play room with
    colorforms - actually two horizontal strips - one with a City  
    and below it (closer to the floor for smaller kids) a Farm.  It's great!