In most respects, my family gets along pretty well. We are all very individualistic people, and respect each others' rights to self-determination. No one tries to tell each other what to do, and my kids are all driven enough that I don't really need to lecture them on doing their homework. One of the biggest fights in my family is about room design. Whenever we are designing a room, decorating hallway, or making minor changes in the appearance of our house, it is always difficult. Everyone has a different vision, and no one really wants to compromise.
When I first decided to have kids, my wife and I thought that we would have a unified room design. We figured that each bedroom would reflect the overall vision that we had for the house. Having kids changed that idea. Designing a room for kids is best done with the child's input. Some parents live by the rule this is my house and it will look like I want it to look, but in my opinion this is not worth the effort. By allowing kids to have some control over their room design, you avoid a lot of unnecessary fights. You also help them learn how to express themselves something that is important for young minds.
In most families, however, the husband and wife do handle room design in common rooms. This is all well and good if you and your wife happen to agree on how things should look. Me and my wife, however, don't agree at all. We don't fight with each other exactly, but we do have rather long and heated discussions about room design. The kids want to have their opinions heard too, and usually it takes months before we can agree on anything.
I have finally resigned myself to the fact that our room designs will never match up all that well. Basically, we design rooms in a pretty haphazard fashion. I might pick out the track lighting for the kitchen, for example, while my kids get to pick out the color of the walls, and my wife, the table and chairs. It gives everything a kind of funky, patchwork feel to it. I wouldn't say that it is ideal, but it looks alright. We can't afford a room designer, and so having everything look a little bit thrown together is better than fighting about it. After all, what could be more important than family unity?
5:54 AM