was just talking to my SIL on the phone when I read this - so I asked her what she did with her 4 kids.

She had gates into rooms they couldn't go into. The portacot was only good for when they went out places. The playpen got used a lot to just put the kids in. If she had to go have a shower etc then the munchkin would get put in their cot.

In our household the playpen got put around things that I wasn't allowed to touch - like the xmas tree