The secret to happy children is a sofa

When it comes to decorating their kids’ rooms, any parent with space and a budget dreams of creating a theme park for their child.

I’ve seen beds shaped like race cars, bunk beds that are cabins and furniture that resembles spaceships. On Instagram you can find rooms that resemble the set of the Mandalorian. But if, like most people, you’re not good with handcrafts and your budget doesn’t stretch that far, don’t worry. All you need to fulfill your child’s fantasy is a sofa.

Yes, really. Any sofa, especially if it has removable cushions, can be turned into a transformer with thousands of uses.

Our own couch has been a pirate ship to navigate the wild seas full of dangerous creatures, a treehouse that resists violent storms, a bank to be robbed, a school for stuffed animals, a ninja hideout, stores of many kinds, a trampoline, a dry waterside, a lucha libre ring and a punching bag.

The possibilities are infinite. If children share one thing, it’s the imagination and free time to be creative.

Almost four decades ago, my sister and I played on our sofa every afternoon until we broke its legs. Today my children do the same, with the same joy, on a different sofa.

The only difference is that we have learned from experience. Now we have two sofas. We don’t have one of those reality-show mansions: we have one sofa to sit comfortably and read, called “the new one,” and then we have “the old one” (so as not to call it “the dirty one”). We bought it 12 years ago, and we use it without concern.

Friends and family members use it to take naps, sometimes without even taking off their shoes. Dozens of children have jumped on it, often also without removing their shoes. Our dog has spent years resting on it when she thinks we’re not looking: in theory, it’s forbidden territory for her, but the hairs she leaves behind gives her away. It has received countless paint, glitter, slime, and food stains. And on it live millions of mites in dusty, microscopic cities.

It is a lived-in, filthy sofa. If the CSI team checked it out, their ultraviolet lamp would explode. But without a doubt, the old, cheap sofa is everyone’s favorite.

What kids want is to have fun without worrying, and without an adult warning them not to get the sofa dirty.

So the next time you decide to switch out your sofa, if you have space and patience, don’t get rid of the old one. Leave it in a corner where your kids can destroy it. You’ll make them — and their friends — very happy.

And when you’re fed up with the filthy old couch, your kids will be old enough to carry it to the sidewalk themselves.

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