<p>Granted that we have the space, but my kid’s rooms will no doubt remain their rooms for as long as we live in this house. Last year, during freshman orientation, there was a panel for parents on “Letting Go.” The speaker, who is a counselor, highly recommended that the students rooms be kept as is for at least a year, if at all possible. I noticed one or two parents who didn’t seem to be happy when they heard that, but I agree. Psychologically, going off to college is an adjustment, and you don’t always know ahead of time for whom that is most true - my vote is to let them come home to what is familiar if you can. S had a friend whose parents moved immediately after he graduated from HS. He’s a pretty together kid, but it was tough on him, all the same.</p>
<p>My view: college is temporary. This is still my child’s home, and until they graduate from college AND move out on their own permanently, their rooms are their rooms.</p>
<p>But what if the room is BETTER, more gorwnup, fresher, cleaner.</p>
<p>I think that speaker doesn’t give parents enough credit for good judgement and for kids to be resilient and glad to have a nice home to go back to, even if there are changes</p>
<p>Sometimes I think we treat these young adults like they are so weak they can’t handle changes on the homie front.</p>
<p>Some how kids survive through houses burning down, parents having to move cross country because of work, death of pets, and yet, some counsleor gets all caught up in the idea of parents rearragning some furniture, clearing out childhood crap, and creating a space for others to use.</p>
<p>I think that counsler was just silly. A 19-20 year old should be okay with some changes made at home when they are gone 9 months of the year. </p>
<p>I don’t get a 21 year old wanting their same room they had a 16. I would think they would want something a bit more mature, reflective of their new selves. Yes the space is theirs, but its mine as well. </p>
<p>It think we don’t give our young adults enough credit to handle changes. They are going to college. Why do we act as if they are so insecure, unstable, and incapable that if we pack away their soccer trophies, they will fall apart?</p>
<p>Also, its not about respecting their space, to me its more about respecting the person they are becoming and trusting they can “go with the flow” a bit, after all, how lucky are they?</p>
<p>My D was barely out of the house when her younger sister showed up at her door ready to clean the room out and move in. Older D had the best and most spacious room in the house complete with private bath. When we were done with all the heavy cleaning and reorganizing, little sister put up a sign on the door: “room under new management.”</p>
<p>Now I have to go into little sister’s old room and clean THAT space out so that older sister has a room too. Right now it’s a disorganized mess and filled with both sisters’ discards.</p>
<p>I’ve already given my opinion (post no. 10), but I am surprised how many people aren’t touching the room. Y’all must live in really large houses and can afford to write off the space.</p>
<p>Almost every family I know, their kids don’t come home 4 months out of the year. Most after their first year, stay at school, travel, etc and are home maybe at MOST 8 weeks spread through the year, and that’s a stretch. 3 weeks at the winter, never spring break, at most a month spread out in the summer, and thanksgiving. Many don’t live on campus so rent apartments or houses and prefer to live there if they are paying for them anyway. Both my Ds will end up working and staying on campus, pretty cheap.</p>
<p>And, again, what young adults want to go back to a teenager room? I know of no kid, and I asked all my Ds friends, and my friends, and they all said, go ahead and change it, jsut make sure I have a bed and some storage space.</p>
<p>That’s what we did - made sure there was a NICE bed, storage space, etc. for when all the boys are home. No one’s on the couch, and no one’s in a room that was last decorated when he was 9 (which seems to be when we “did” boys’ rooms around here). </p>
<p>Now, we still need to organize and pack away a bunch of stuff that will eventually move to the permanent living quarters of our sons. (I remember after I married DH - and he was 31 when we got married - that every time we went to visit his mom she sent home boxes of his old stuff with us!) But I feel no need to trip over it until the boys settle down and have kids!</p>
<p>Don’t worry. We aren’t tossing out any Legos.</p>
<p>:-)</p>
<p>What about dontating the legos to a childrens shelter, or a something like that?</p>
<p>Why not encourage grown up children to share so that other less fortunate little boys can get joy out of those legos?</p>
<p>My daughters couldnt have imagined keeping all their play kitchen stuff or blocks or other toys. When they imagined that some little girl or boy at a shelter was able to play with their gentrly used toys, it brought smiles to my ds and made them really want to donate thier old things.</p>
<p>Just something to think about. I nour house, once you have out grown something, its given to an organization that will make much better use of the stuff than having perfectly good toys sitting in a box.</p>
<p>Nope-we’re saving son’s extensive lego collection for the grandkids!</p>
<p>Agree with anxiousmom…I am also saving the lego collection and playmobil toys for grandkids. I loved that when my kids went to grandma’s they had fun toys to play with and they loved it too.</p>
<p>Had to laugh…my freshman son came home for a big football game and stayed in his room last night; he didn’t even notice that I had cleaned up his room, and had put most things away in boxes in the closet. He could not have cared less. Must have not noticed that the bed was made either, because he left it like he always had…unmade!</p>
<p>It’s probably important to some, and not to others.</p>
<p>So, you will be lugging around, moveing, storing legos for probablly 10 years. </p>
<p>I just cant imagine.Guess I am of the mindset that there things like that should be shared and there are little kids now, homeless, abused, that would enjoy my daughters toys they have outgrown, and instezd of those items sitting in a closet, unused, in the hope a grandkid will want to use them, seems a waste to me. I am not one for saving items for the future in hopes that they may be wanted. If they aren’t needed now, or in the next year, they move on to those that can use them now. Things sitting around in storage just seems a waste.</p>
<p>I ran into a friend who was cleaning out a storage locker. She had saved her daughters plastic play tea seats, clothes, etc. She said that it was just silly and she was now happilly donating them. And she wished she had done it years ago so they would have gotten some use.</p>
<p>I spent the day spra painting, sewing, rearragning Ds rooms. Having a blast.</p>
<p>We don’t hiold onto the material stuff, like others, different strokes.</p>
<p>I think Legos must be different - for the Lego People. And we were, and are, Lego People.</p>
<p>We’re gonna die in this house, so they are in a few huge tubs stacked away already, but within reach, since they are already used to entertain kids in the right demographic group when we have company.</p>
<p>We’ve gotten rid of LOTS of toys. But we’ve kept the Legos. And there’s a box of Lincoln Logs, as well as a set of the old colored blocks ready for the grandkids.</p>
<p>:-)</p>
<p>“Don’t worry. We aren’t tossing out any legos.”–LOL.</p>
<p>Here it is the American Girl Doll stuff! :)</p>
<p>My younger one has a nice collection of Polly Pocket. I think she would be very upset if we were to give them up. We also have a nice collection of American Girl Doll stuff. We have also saved a few outfit and shoes of our kids. It is always nice for little kids to see something of their parents when they were little.</p>