The Importance of Space for Play & Rest

       If your like most home owners in America today, you dream of those open floor plans and you spend much of your income to acquire them either prior to planning a home or by flipping an older home. However beautiful these open floor plans may be, these spaces insure that your children will be playing at all hours of the day in your lap, so to speak. 

       Children need three kinds of spaces in order to grow up confident and secure in their home environments. These are:

1. Public spaces are for social engagement, learning and family time.
2. Private spaces are for self soothing activities, comfortable rest and quiet playtime.
3. Outdoor spaces are for adventure, discovering nature, robust health and active athletic pursuits.

       None of these space necessarily need to be gigantic. It is more important that there are a variety of space types than that each space be enormous. Also, some of these spaces need not be owned by the family. For instance, a nearby park or YMCA could easily be used as active, outdoor options for those families living in tighter quarters.

       The most obvious way for home owners or apartment dwellers to make private space available for their children, is to find creative ways of interpreting their children's bedroom furnishings. First, and foremost, get those beds off of the floor and find practical storage in areas where things can be picked up easily. This kind of arrangement in a room will make it easier to play constructively during nap hours or quiet time. 

       Also, parents need a break from noise and chaos. You will have more energy to play with your kids, if you have a quiet place for them to be alone or active apart from public areas at different times of the day. These strategies when incorporated into a child's daily routine actually help them to focus more during study time. This is why educators in public schools move children from space to space, breaking up their daily routines. They don't just do this for practical reasons; they do it also for academic and psychological purposes as well. If parents design multiple opportunities for their offspring to play differently, experience a variety of environments and afford one to two opportunities to rest by themselves in a day, their children's overall behaviors will improve. 

       No person likes to be camped out in the same place day after day without stimulating activities and experiences and no person can rest completely if they are not given privacy at some point in their day as well. Think about what you would like and then find a way to give the same environmental considerations to the younger people of your own home.

More Bunk Bed Ideas:

• 100 Cool Ideas! Bunk Beds for Girls and Bunk Beds for Boys 
• Loft Bed Construction, DIY
• Smartest Ideas for Space Saving Furniture
• Easy Double Bunk Beds
• Space Saving Furniture: Murphy Beds