The beauty of simplicity...

At the beginning of June we were glad to get to head to Tennessee for 9 days.
My husband and I both have a great appreciation for the beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains. We go so often that people often assume that are from there or have family there. Neither of which are true. We just LOVE mountain life.

Our trip wasn't all leisure. We stayed in a 1 bedroom cabin that we own with part of the purpose of the trip to do some needed spring cleaning in the cabin.
We'd never stayed long in that cabin with all three of our children. I wondered how they would do in much tighter quarters than our home. They each were accustomed to their own bedroom and their own toys, both of which they were quite possessive of! With all the cleaning supplies we needed to take we didn't have much room for toys either, so not many were taken.

It was a very interesting experience. There was something very special about us all being in close quarters. I found it very cozy and liked the simplicity.
I actually really liked having 1 bathroom rather than 3 1/2! (I realize how much more work we make ourselves by thinking we need or want so many bathrooms! I now appreciate the fact that old farm houses only had one bathroom.) I also loved my children sleeping in the same area and having "bedtime" together rather than being shuffled to individual rooms. There was a feeling of family unity it created.

When we came home although very thankful for the beautiful home we have, I found myself disgusted by the excess amount of space, by all the excess toys, by all the things we think we need that distract us & hinder quality family time. I missed the simplicity of cabin life... and the closeness.

The first 2 days after we returned home I also began to notice a startling change in my children. The little girls who would demand their sisters to leave their room were now welcoming them in! The sisters who were very possessive and often selfish in the sharing of their things were now all playing together in one of the girl's bedrooms! This wasn't short of a miracle to my husband and I!
I realized how healthy it had been for them to have no choice at the cabin to share what limited amount of toys we brought; how healthy it was for them to fully share their living spaces. This 1 bedroom cabin experience and how it affected our children brought about a big change in our home. We did something unusual that has turned out to be a big blessing.

Wanting to encourage this posititve change of attitude we saw we did a complete overhaul in the way our girls rooms were set up. Instead of each of them having their own room and their own toys we did the following:
We made one of the girls bedrooms into the "sleeping room". All 3 of our daughters (ages 3, 5 & 7) have their beds in the same room. That room is only for sleeping/resting and there are no toys in there (just some stuffed animals & books). The second room we made into the toy room. ALL three of the girls toys went into this one room. The third room we made into the "dressing room". All of the dressers, clothing and shoes went into this room! This took a lot of work; most of which I did in one day. But, oh the delight this change has brought. Our girls are playing together with more harmony than ever existed before. There's no battle over "That's MINE!". It's interesting how quickly the reality sank in for them that by sharing their own toys now they also got to play with the much sought after toy their sister had! The sleeping arrangement has caused no problems what so ever either. I believe the reason the girls sometimes had trouble going to bed before was mostly because they were afraid to be in the dark alone! (I was very afraid of the dark at night until I was well.... maybe 30! :) They like knowing their sisters are right there. I also enjoy being able to sing and pray with all three of them together before bedtime. It's become very special to see them all in their beds close together and hearing them say good night to one another and that they love each other!

Besides bringing about a healthier relationship between our children, this arrangement makes things much more simple for me!! All the toys go to one room (keeping the other rooms quite tidy) and all the girls laundry goes in and out of the same room. It makes it much easier to keep things orderly.

I've decided that less space truly can be more and that each child having their own room isn't necessarily the healthiest!