I agree whole heartedly. A few of my neighbors still insist on carrying one of the youngest in their arms while they are mowing. Every time I see it I want to cry. Yeah, the child hasn't been dumped yet, but it only takes a second, and there is no way those safety switches will be able to stop those mower blades in time. One of the people mowing has a very old rear rider craftsman mower, and I'm sure it doesn't have safety switches. If they would only go to the emergency rooms and see what happens when a child is mutilated because of crazy ideas like letting a child ride on a mower doing the job it is intended to do, I think it would be the last ride for a child until they were considerably older. Good on ya Steve to bring this up. No, I'm not nosy, but I sure as heck don't want to hear about yet another mutilated child either. If the child lives, they have to live with an impairment for the rest of their lives. Is it really worth it for a joy ride? Think about it folks. Please think about it.

To accommodate changes in the future, I'd line the space with peg board. There are a variety of hooks that you can use on peg board and it's easy to move them around. So you could have hooks down low for little people to use and move them around as the kids grow and the sports they do change. The right hook for a bike helmet probably won't work for a baseball bat or lacrosse stick or basketball. I think any storage area that is out in the open will need some regular tidying to stay looking neat. On the plus side, the easier storage is to use, the more the kids are likely to use it.

First of all, it is probably impossible to have a tidy home 100% of the time. Sometimes life just happens. You're in the door and out again before you have time to sweep up the debris and put away the school papers. Don't feel too bad! I *try* to live by two rules ... don't buy it if you don't need it and make things EASY to put away. You won't find me with a garage full of not-quite-ready-to-use furniture. (Sometimes I wish I did when I see other's great finds, but that doesn't work for my current lifestyle. Maybe later.) First decide what needs to live in each room. Then decide how best to store those items. For example, for years I nagged my children to take their school shoes to their rooms. Their shoes, socks, and belts always ended up scattered all over my living room. I finally realized that I would never win that battle. I bought a pretty basket from Pier One and placed it on the hearth. All shoes and belts go into the basket. (I prefer that socks find their way to the laundry room, but if I have to pull them from the basket once a week, that will work.) Now, I rarely find a shoe in my living room. The kids are more than happy to use the basket. Also, before every Cub Scout meeting, we scrambled to find all the pieces to my son's uniform (hat, slide, neckerchief, and handbook). I placed another basket on top of a desk in the laundry room. Now all his Cub Scout essentials are out of sight yet right by the door and ready to go. I love Polly's end table/hamper method. You have to find what works for your "stuff" and fits into your decor. I lived for years with a Thomas the Tank Engine table in my living room. You know what? That was perfectly fine for my life at that time. I might not win any decor awards, but I was a good mommy (in a small house)! Decide how much clutter (toys, etc) *you* can tolerate, then look at your furnishings with new eyes. Could you place large bins on the bottom shelves of a pretty bookcase to store books. (It is easier for a child to throw books back into a bin or basket than to stand them neatly on a shelf.) Instead of storing blankets in a blanket chest or storage ottoman, could you use that hidden storage for larger toys? Is there a closet near the living room that could be used for toy storage? (The vacuum can live elsewhere.) I use the kid accessible storage in my kitchen island to store playdoh, coloring supplies, craft supplies, and jigsaw puzzles. My kids like to be close to me while I'm cooking. Use your best storage for the items that are a priority in your life today. Tomorrow you can change to something else. The key to organizing your home is that you are never truly done. You are constantly re-evaluating your family's priorities and storage needs. Good luck, Nin

We have an iron mailbox set in from the street along our driveway. Kids are not likely to turn into the drive and nobody's going to whack *that* box with a bat. I don't want a flag on my mailbox; don't want to signal that there is mail in there. We never put outgoing mail in our box for the same reason. Our lot is bordered by a creek, so there are often kids messing around down there. That's OK until they start spray painting the bridge supports or leaving a lot of trash in the water. (Time to call the city.) Mostly they are fine. Recently I've noticed some tame mischief has been to rearrange the small boulders we have along the street (placed to keep trucks from running up onto our grass). Kids have SO much energy, and I guess it's a 'feat of strength' to roll those stones around!