Parents of 3+ Kids - what is your sleeping arrangement like?

[Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 18:48
Last edited 19/12/2019 - 18:50

Hi :)

Our family is growing and we are soon going to have 4 kids , much to the delight of my youngest, who has been relentlessly petitioning Santa for a sister for weeks now :)

The 4 kids are 12 ( B, G) , 5 (G) and 3 (B) years old . we recently downsized , before we realised that we would be adding to the brood, to a 4 bedroom , double-storey house. It has a rumpus/library/ Ipad-activity/play room upstairs that could easily be turned into a 5th bedroom.So that the 5 year old and the 2 x 12 year olds can sleep upstairs and the little one will be sleeping in his current room downstairs with us.

The other option is to rejigged downstairs to fit the dining table into the kitchen and turn the dining room /study into a bedroom and the 2 youngest kids (3 and 5) can sleep downstairs with us.

Yet another option is to move out and buy/rent a bigger house.

How do you do it? What is the sleeping arrangement at your place?

JJB - a frustrated single child who dreamt of having a bunk bed and a younger sibling to share it with :)

p.s: Both the dining room and the rumpus have north-facing windows and are a good size.

Poll Options

  • 3
    Convert rumpus upstairs into a bedroom for the 5 year old.
  • 2
    Convert the dining room downstairs into a bedroom for the 5 year old.
  • 3
    Move into a bigger house.
  • 18
    You're overthinking it.
Home & Garden

Comments

  • Nugs on 19/12/2019 - 18:53
    +2

    tie a knot in it
    .

    • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 18:55
      +7

      LOL! I have . We're adopting :)

      • 87percent on 20/12/2019 - 04:23
        +1

        Fantastic to see people adopting

  • mskeggs on 19/12/2019 - 19:04
    +5

    Share some rooms?
    All 4 of our kids shared for at least part of their childhoods. Before school age there is no barrier to boys and girls sharing.

    • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 19:15
      -1

      I agree. But part of the condition of the adoption is that each of the children must have their own room. This demand was made specifically by the birth mother.

      • Euphemistic on 19/12/2019 - 20:28
        +2

        That’s a shame. There is nothing wrong with kids sharing bedrooms, especially while young.

      • onetwothreefour on 20/12/2019 - 06:22

        Can the parents giving up their kid make demands? I would've thought they are your kid now and you should choose how to raise them.

        Edit just read your comments below.

        • [Deactivated] on 20/12/2019 - 08:07

          Yep. So can all the agencies involved and there's a few considering it's an intercountry adoption.

  • spackbace on 19/12/2019 - 19:22
    +1

    Turn rumpus/library/ Ipad-activity/play room into a bedroom, and

    The other option is to rejigged downstairs to fit the dining table into the kitchen and turn the dining room /study into

    Do this, but turn the dining/study room into a rumpus/library/ Ipad-activity/play room so the kids have a good space for that

    • [Deactivated] on 20/12/2019 - 17:07

      This is the best option but it is also the most expensive one :(

  • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 19:30

    Congratulations !!

    I was expecting a floorplan in order to provide an informed opinion 😜

    • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 19:38

      Thanks 😊 It did cross my mind but posting a floorplan of my current house online might not be the wisest thing to do. If it helps, both rooms are a good size and rectangular in shape. The rumpus is carpeted, has a south-facing window and is opened to the landing ,which could easily be remedied while the dining room has floorboards, a set of glass barn doors and a north-facing window. Whichever room we choose to convert will have a proper door installed so that the occupant can have privacy.

      • RandomNinja on 19/12/2019 - 20:22

        If you use the obligatory MS Paint to share the floorplan it might be ok? ;)

      • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 20:45

        I was being cheeky!

        Was your soon-to-be youngest daughter known to your family prior to the adoption? I ask this as you are very fortunate in that your floorplan is quite flexible so I'm looking at this from the perspective of what would work best for your family dynamic.

        Has the 5 year old established a rapport with your other children? Do your eldest kids and the youngest have a preference?

        • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 22:12
          +3

          It's complicated. She's my half-sister and was more of an abstract concept to us up until we actually met her a year ago, when our Dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer and we flew overseas to see him.She was shy around me at first but immediately bonded with my wife and clung to her at the funeral.

          We're all very protective of her, including the children who can't comprehend that any child should ever have to grow up without a father or that a mother could want to spend so little time with her child. She stayed with us for 5 weeks earlier in the year and we all grew closer. She is one of us:I think, we all felt it. There was a tsunami of tears when it was time to say goodbye at the airport. We're all very excited that she's coming to live with us, permanently, this time :)

          As for sleeping arrangements, my youngest has offered to give up his bedroom , which is the closest to the master bedroom , so we can be there if she ever needs anything during the night. The eldest kids would prefer if the rumpus stayed upstairs, far away from their mother's and my prying eyes as possible. 🙄

          • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 22:40

            @[Deactivated]: Oh wow ! Blood runs deep always!

            Ahhh yes, let the pre-tweens have the run of the upstairs.

            Best wishes for a smooth transition for the newest addition to your famille!

            • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 22:44

              @[Deactivated]: Thank you .

              p.s: Are you French? You've said "famille" instead of family.

              • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 22:55

                @[Deactivated]: No - my husband has French ancestry on his Mum's side and some of his family's references have stuck!

          • LuffyTuffyFluffy on 20/12/2019 - 00:18
            +2

            @[Deactivated]: Your youngest sounds so sweet and thoughtful.

            I think the dining conversion may be a good compromise for everyone. The 12 year old gets to keep their established space and privacy (some kids are sensitive to changes), and the younger ones can choose to hang downstairs or chill out upstairs.

  • Euphemistic on 19/12/2019 - 20:48
    +2

    If it were up to me I’d be looking for separate rooms for the 12yos, unless they have a twin bond and they want to share a room. Boys and girls at 12 start to change to adults and mature at different rates and might want their own space. Putting the two younger ones together would be an option I’d look at, but the adoption ‘rules’ make that difficult. There is nothing wrong with kids sharing, it’s only a relatively modern thing that everyone has their own room, largely a construct of having lots of 2 kid families.

    We currently have separate rooms for our kids, but during renovations had to share a bit. Caused a few issues, but nothing serious and one combination worked better than the other.

  • serpserpserp on 19/12/2019 - 21:40

    Do you own your home or rent?

    Think if this house is going to suit your needs going forward. If not and you need to have 5 bedrooms, perhaps look for a 5 bedroom house. Although depending where you live, that could be slim pickings (or very expensive).

    • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 22:20

      We own our house. We've completely renovated it in the 10 months we've lived in it and have added value to it. So selling is an option but it is so ideally situated. It would be hard to find another house like this one.

  • oscargamer on 19/12/2019 - 22:05
    -4

    Don't care. You created this. You sort it out to suit yourself.

    • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 22:22

      I didn't neg. What did I create? And why comment if you don't care?

    • WoodYouLikeSomeCash on 19/12/2019 - 23:04

      If I hadn’t reached my daily limit I would have negged you then…

  • TheBilly on 19/12/2019 - 22:47
    +1

    Our family is growing and we are soon going to have 4 kids

    The maths is off

    The 4 kids are 12 ( B, G) , 5 (G) and 3 (B) years ol

    Or you are adopting a 3 year old boy?

    So that the 5 year old and the 2 x 12 year olds can sleep upstairs

    the 2 youngest kids (3 and 5)

    • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2019 - 22:51
      +1

      Close . We're adopting a 5 year old girl.

      • TheBilly on 20/12/2019 - 09:02

        Good on you all for doing that !!

  • blitz on 19/12/2019 - 23:06
    +2

    Good on you, JJB!

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