Just because there are children in the house doesn’t mean that you have to wait
to remodel. In fact, the experience of some of our most recent clients shows that
remodeling can be a safe, educational, and fun experience for children. Here are
some tips to make your project valuable and worthwhile for
your children.
Involve your children in the decision-making.
When your children feel like a part
of the process, they take a much more active interest in what's happening. Of course, your children’s level of involvement depends on what feels most
comfortable for you. For example, if part of the remodeling
project includes the child’s room, you might pre-approve three or four paint
colors or wallpaper patterns, and then help your child select his/her "very own"
decoration from those "finalists."
Help
your children draw their own plans.
While you’re meeting with your designer/builder
and looking over plans, your kids might enjoy drawing their own layouts. For example,
your children might draw the kitchen as it is now... or you might ask them to draw
their ideas for the perfect kitchen.
Turn shopping trips into educational exploration.
For the decision-maker, shopping
trips can present a dizzying array of colors and samples to choose from. For the
preschooler, it’s a rainbow of colors to identify and textures to touch. You can
make
the shopping a trip a learning experience by asking your child to identify
colors in tiles or paint sample cards, or to count the samples themselves.
Choose
your workers with your children in mind. If your children are going to be around
during the day, make sure that the workers on your job maintain appropriate
standards of conduct. You have the right to set rules for behavior in and around
your home, including workers. We believe our
Code of Conduct is sensitive to this, and you
should insist on nothing less. If you are ever concerned about workers’
conduct, discuss your concern with your Project Manager.
Protect
your children on the job site. Make sure that your builder uses zippered plastic "walls" to keep
as much dust and dirt as possible from getting into the rest of the house.
Usually, a small amount of dust and dirt won’t be harmful to your children.
An air purifier in the child’s room can also help to avoid any dust-related
problems.
Allow your children to watch the work in progress, but from a
safe distance. It’s a great learning experience for children to watch s something
being built, and to learn the names of building tools and what they do. But stress
the fact that tools aren’t toys. (This is especially important if the project
requires us to leave any equipment on-site.) Children should also be taught never to touch
anything or enter the job site without an adult’s permission.
Plan
mini-field trips. We will let you know when the job will be its
messiest or noisiest. On those days, you may want to plan for lunch in the park,
an afternoon matinee, or doing homework at the library.
Make a
memory book While it’s still fresh in their minds, your children might enjoy
making a memory book of their remodeling experience. They might draw pictures or
write about the most interesting things they saw during the project, their
favorite part of the project, workers they met, and things they did to help.
Your children are
very important to us. We'll do everything we can to make the experience
educational and fun for them... and above all, to make sure that they're safe
and secure.
