This is our first year heating with a wood stove. We moved to a new house this summer. We've always wanted a wood stove and finally were able to install one. We basically just liked the feel of it. But it has unexpectedly completely changed our family dynamic. In our previous house, the kids used to scatter throughout the house, and we hardly ever used the living room. Now everybody gathers in the living room, where the stove is, *all the time* and we actually enjoy each other's company.
We have gradually grown more conversant. Personally, at the start of winter, I would grudgingly share the space, buried in my book or magazine or screen, tolerating whatever music my teenagers put on. Over the winter, I have come to open up and listen to the small talk and even take part. I think we have all grown more comfortable just being together. (And as parents we feel a lot better about the "screen time" we allow each kid when they are sitting right there with us.)
The stove room has now become the school room, as well, because that's where the kids do their homework when they come home. It's also where the TV is. For me, that has meant if I am feeling lazy after work and might have vegged out watching YouTube on the big screen, now I can't because the kids are sitting around the wood stove with their books and notebooks. So I have to settle in with a book, or at least something less brain-rotting than YouTube. And although I *could* put in earbuds and stare at my laptop, it turns out a live wood fire is usually pretty good competition for my attention--and in the long run a better actual treatment for whatever was making me feel "lazy" to begin with.
It helps that the stove is only big enough to truly heat the downstairs and we keep the two upper floors--bedrooms and "school room" (where the kids used to always hang out)--without direct heat, generally in the low to mid 50s, just good for sleeping or using the "school room" with a space heater.
FWIW, our downstairs is basically just a foyer/stairwell/powder room with large doorway to living room with stove--two sofas and arm chair seat seven--with large opening to large dining room, and normal doorway to small kitchen off the side. Heat circulates easily only to the dining room. My wife and I have four kids full-time at home, ages 10, 13, 14, 17. One in college in town who sometimes comes home on weekends and breaks. And a 20-yr-old who came home in December and shares a bunk with his younger brother about five nights a week. So the living room gets pretty full!
We have gradually grown more conversant. Personally, at the start of winter, I would grudgingly share the space, buried in my book or magazine or screen, tolerating whatever music my teenagers put on. Over the winter, I have come to open up and listen to the small talk and even take part. I think we have all grown more comfortable just being together. (And as parents we feel a lot better about the "screen time" we allow each kid when they are sitting right there with us.)
The stove room has now become the school room, as well, because that's where the kids do their homework when they come home. It's also where the TV is. For me, that has meant if I am feeling lazy after work and might have vegged out watching YouTube on the big screen, now I can't because the kids are sitting around the wood stove with their books and notebooks. So I have to settle in with a book, or at least something less brain-rotting than YouTube. And although I *could* put in earbuds and stare at my laptop, it turns out a live wood fire is usually pretty good competition for my attention--and in the long run a better actual treatment for whatever was making me feel "lazy" to begin with.
It helps that the stove is only big enough to truly heat the downstairs and we keep the two upper floors--bedrooms and "school room" (where the kids used to always hang out)--without direct heat, generally in the low to mid 50s, just good for sleeping or using the "school room" with a space heater.
FWIW, our downstairs is basically just a foyer/stairwell/powder room with large doorway to living room with stove--two sofas and arm chair seat seven--with large opening to large dining room, and normal doorway to small kitchen off the side. Heat circulates easily only to the dining room. My wife and I have four kids full-time at home, ages 10, 13, 14, 17. One in college in town who sometimes comes home on weekends and breaks. And a 20-yr-old who came home in December and shares a bunk with his younger brother about five nights a week. So the living room gets pretty full!
