Mama in the City

Living in a small space dictates what kind of play things you can have for your child. There is no basement to fill with large toys and no extra playroom to store bins of fun art supplies and many pieces of Lego. As an apartment dweller, I have to constantly be considerate of what toys come into our small spaces. I scrutinize what is needed and what is really extra, and then I think about how the chosen item will be stored.

I have always been a lover of clean spaces, with a purposeful lack of clutter and knick knack collections. Maybe if I had a big house my tune would change, but right now this is the way I live. I don't want my sons bedroom to become a big trap of ankle breaking toys scattered everywhere. Nor do I want a collection of toys that he plays with once a month or less taking up space. I want things to be current, loved and without a lot of excess. I don't want his toys spilling out into every single room, I want them all to have a space to be put back to in his bedroom and this is the way we live right now.

Keeping this in mind, we made a trip to Ikea and stopped in their lovely Children's section. Ben found the children's tent and was filled with glee and happiness as he hid inside. When Ben was a baby and crawling we bought him a collapsible tunnel. We loved it and it has gotten lots of use over the years, it's currently folded up and stored in his closet.





I didn't hesitate too long once I saw that the tent folds up into a tiny tiny little thing about the size of an umbrella. The price tag of $14.99 was also just perfect. My boy could have a little tent fun and a private space for playing and I could roll it up and shove it under his dresser, keeping up with my clean lines and fear of clutter.