We’re renovating our kitchen, which basically means the heart of our home is currently a construction zone. And while I expected my routine to implode, I didn’t fully anticipate how deeply it would hit the kids too.
Not because they care about backsplash or flooring delays (that’s my Roman Empire). But because renovations quietly change everything children rely on to feel safe, grounded, and “normal.”
We’ve done what we can to hold things together. We built a little “makeshift kitchen” in the dining room—coffee maker, toaster, air fryer, even the fridge. Our living room is untouched except for a giant plastic poly door to keep the dust out. Bedrooms remain work-free zones because everyone needs at least one sacred space that doesn’t smell like drywall.
But still… the ripple effects are real.
Sharing one toilet between a family of four and contractors was exactly as glamorous as it sounds. So yes, we fast-tracked finishing the second bathroom last weekend—not for us, but for our eldest, who deserves to poop in peace without a construction audience.
We’re tired. He’s tired. Bedtime has become a whole extra chapter because he needs more from us to settle, and we don’t always have it. It’s hard to show up calm and cozy when my nightly routine includes… washing dishes in the bathtub instead of reading stories.
The truth is: when the house is under construction, so are the people inside it.
Kids don’t say, “Wow, this change in environment is dysregulating my nervous system.”
They just feel it. And it comes out in clinginess, extra emotions, restlessness, later bedtimes—normal kid reactions that are amplified by the uncertainty swirling around them.
So we keep trying to create pockets of normal:
– a calm living room
– a stable bedtime ritual, even if short
– familiar snacks in the same spot
– the “mini kitchen” that keeps mornings somewhat predictable
– and now, blessedly, two functioning bathrooms
It’s not perfect, but it’s something.
And maybe that’s the whole lesson: our kids don’t need the house to be perfect—they just need us to keep building little islands of stability until the dust settles. Literally.
Talk soon,
Tara
CEO of Chaos & Co.