Kids sleep on a different floor? Do you let beds go in front of a window?

[StormySar]

Two seperate issues...

Do your children sleep on a seperate floor than you? We are buying a house that has 3 bedrooms - 2 on the main floor and one upstairs. I'm trying to plan how we'll arrange the bedrooms. We have a large bed, so it makes sense that we'd put our master bedroom in the bedroom upstairs. But I'm nervous about my kids sleeping unsupervised on the lower floor. What if there was a fire? A break in? What if they get out of bed quietly and go crazy in the kitchen?

Next question is: Would you allow a bed to cover a window, partially or fully? Thebedrooms in this new house are small, and I *think* the bunkbeds may have to cover a window. Light will still shine in... But i hate the image of furniture covering/blocking/being seen right up next to a window. But will do what has to be done, I suppose.

What age were your children when you split up genders, assuming they roomed together while young? I'm considering putting my girls in one room and my boys in another, but splitting up the young ones will be hard on them, though I'm sure my oldest would appreciate some time away from her brother.

[Rebecca]

I'm not sure what the ages and genders, or how many children you have, but I think i'd keep everyone on the first floor and use the upstairs room for a playroom. Or if you oldest daughter is older than say, 6, I might put her upstairs and keep the others downstairs.

I have concerns about a top bunk covering a window because if the kid thrashes around and kicks the glass... or screen in the summer, well, you can see what I mean. Unless it's the head of the bunk... that's not quite as dangerous, IMO. And it's drafty if you live in a cold place.

[CarrieMF]

I only have 1 gender of kids so that doesn't apply here.

In this house 2 sleep on the main level & 1 sleeps in the basement. I sleep on the main level & dh sleeps in the basement most nights.

My middle dd's bedroom is large enough that we can(and have) fit a queen bed & single bed & had lots of room so it's easy to place her bed so that it does not go in front of the window. We have done it before though.

My youngest's bedroom is small & there are only a couple places we can put her bed. all except 1 has it covering the window, the one that doesn't blocks the closet door.

They have junior loft beds right now so they come partially up the window. My kids are old enough to not play with the window.


growing up all of our bedrooms were on the 2nd story. When Dad built the house the put the windows up higher than what is in the house we live in. I was 7 when we moved into the house & was not tall enough to see out of my window without standing on my bed. There were times it was in front of the window, but was never blocking the window. There were more times when we got older that my sister & I would take the screens off, open the windows & unlatch them so they could be opened more so we could lean out of them. We were teens when we did that though.lol

Even if you're on the same floor, the fire, breakin & quietly going to the kitchen can all happen.

[hillymum]

I have all boys so can't really help on that. I slept in the sae room as one of my brothers until I was about 5 or 6 I think.
I wasnt too comfortable when we bought this house as the master bedroom is on the first floor and all the children's rooms are on the second floor. My youngest stayed on the first floor until after he turned 4 and I had fully weaned him.
I will not put a bed ight next to a window just because ous are very cold and the cutains really do need to be closed easily.
My 9yr old (almost 10) has just started to open his window to call out to his bother or friends. None of them could climb out of their windows so I am not worried about that.

[Llyra]

I have the same issue now. We have three rooms, but only two on the one floor, so I have all three kids in that one room. I've thought a lot about these issues. I think I'd be comfortable having kids on a separate floor starting at about 7 years old. School-age. When they're old enough to see to their own nighttime toilet needs, get to the bathroom if they're sick, not fall down the stairs if they get up at night, and understand how to get out of the house in an emergency. That last one has me thinking maybe even 9 years old, but I've never had a child that age so I'm really not sure. You gotta know your own kids.

As far as genders together-- my feeling has always been that kids can stay together until they themselves are uncomfortable with the situation. But I've often thought that once they get to school-age, I might put DS in his own room separate from the girls, because I don't want to deal with nasty-minded people talking about calling CPS and stuff like that. It's a shame we have to make decisions based on that, though.

As far as the windows-- unless the windows have safety bars on them, I wouldn't put a child's bed right next to a window, especially a top bunk. I would hate to have a child fall out a window.

[kalisis]

In my apt the bunk beds were in front of the window, but we were on the third floor, so it wasn't a safety issue and it wasn't that bad re: the light. It was actually really, really helpful b/c I could stand on the windowsill to change the sheets and it made me like the bunk beds a lot more than I had previously.

There are laws about opposite sex siblings in the same room. I only know this b/c I have had CPS called on me by my X in every state I've ever lived in. So, b/c I have a boy and a girl, I will need to have separate bedrooms for them starting at the age of 8 (that's the law in the state I'm currently living in). I just wanted to be sure and be prepared in case he calls them again anytime soon.

As far as separate floors, I would absolutely NOT be ok with my kids on the first floor and me on the second. If it were the other way around, possibly. But, no way would I want them all alone on the first floor and I can't even think of an age when I think that would be ok. BUT, I'm extra paranoid and have an X who I fear might kidnap my children from me if given the opportunity, so I am really extra careful.

[dbsam]

Our master bedroom is on the main floor and the other bedrooms are upstairs on the other side of the house. The kids slept in our room for a while but now share a room upstairs (B/G). We have considered moving around rooms so we are all on the same floor. For now we still use a monitor and I sleep very lightly (my children are 4.5yo). When my kids were younger we kept a gate in the hallway outside their room so they couldn’t access the open ‘catwalk’ or fall down the stairs. I am also a worrier and have thought about a fire. We have an emergency ladder in the children's room and they’ve been taught how to use it – not sure if that was a good or bad idea. I figure I would run through fire to get to them.

We are not sure when we will split the children into separate rooms – maybe next year or not if they want to continue sharing. They share a full-sized bed.

I don’t care for furniture in front of a window – for safety or aesthetics. If your room is small could you put a twin w/a trundle instead of a bunk bed?

[sunnysandiegan]

We have a room on the first/main floor and 3 rooms on the second floor. We all sleep on the second floor.

However, DD has slept all by herself in the room on the first floor for a week when we had houseguests. She was in a tent in that room. LOL I think she was 5 years old. She wanted to do it that way versus other ideas we had. Frankly, we were surprised she was okay with it. That room has direct access to the backyard and our bedroom overlooks the backyard. We were also up late all night that week, so she felt better being on the same floor as all of us when she was falling asleep versus being concerned about anything once she was already asleep. She didn't feel like she was missing out on anything that way.

She also had a sleepover with two friends in that room. All three girls were in sleeping bags. One girl is significantly older than the other two and super responsible. Again, we were up later than usual.

On a regular basis, no, I would not be comfortable with children on a main level while adults were not. The other way around, yes, but after a certain age (maturity of children and other factors).

I am not fond of furniture covering windows for aesthetic and safety reasons. Our DD's bedroom is really small and bed placement is limited. We also planned to use her room as a guest room for "x" amount of time and wanted two twin beds in there permanently. We opted for a duo high riser and trundle. (A duo high riser has an underframe like a daybed to fit the trundle underneath, but has a regular twin bed on top. I dislike daybeds immensely.) In any case, the bed itself does not cover the window. For one placement (not my favorite LOL), a corner of the headboard is in front of the window. It is very minor and cannot even been seen from outside. I still don't like it much, aesthetically. That just happens to be the only way both beds can fit in the room and have both be fully operational...along with the door to get into the room and the closet door being fully operational.

[SAHDS]

When we looked for a house, that was a deal breaker for us. No way would our children be on a different floor than us..

As for windows, no, I wouldn't block them.

Originally Posted by kalisis

There are laws about opposite sex siblings in the same room. I only know this b/c I have had CPS called on me by my X in every state I've ever lived in.

I did not know that. WOW.

Mine shared a room for a month until DD was almost 2. I'd be fine w/ them sharing a room until they were 5 0r 6, I suppose. Maybe older. They ONLY sleep in there so I'm not sure what the big deal would be..

[Drummer's Wife]

We all, now, sleep on the 2nd floor. I wouldn't feel comfortable covering a window or having a bed right below one. I actually don't want anything that they could potentially climb on near the windows.

[philomom]

I wouldn't be comfortable with my kids on a different level than me. I do have two bedrooms on the main floor of the house, but we all sleep in bedrooms on the second floor.

[Alyantavid]

I would not want my kids on a different floor. As it is, their rooms have never been more than 5 feet away from our bed.

Our house has 2 bedrooms upstairs and 2 downstairs. There's also a large living room area downstairs so we put a kid in each room downstairs and made the living room down there our room.

[vm9799]

well, i must be in the minority here as our master bedroom is the entire top floor of our house and my kid's bedrooms are on the 1st floor. we've been through all fire escape routes and have all kinds of security measures in place.....and we have a dog that barks at the drop of a hat overnight. we have NEVER had any worries about their safety with not being on the same floor as us. they are a bit older now (dd is almost 12 and in 6th grade and ds is 9 and in 3rd grade) but we have been in this set up since we moved in when they were 3 and 8 months old.

if i felt really worried about it, we would have a security system installed asap, but that hasn't been necessary.

the only worry i have is when they are teenagers and wanting to "sneak out" of the house. lol! but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

my kids have only ever shared a room when my ds was born. we lived in a duplex while we house hunted and for about 6 months they shared a room.

[mightymoo]

You can put security film on windows which will make them like safety glass - if they were broken the pieces will not come apart, the glass just cracks. Our house has an opening (like a window) from the upper hallway to the living room, we put safety glass in the opening so that if it broke pieces wouldn't fall to the room below. Safety glass is essentially like a car windshield - two pieces of glass laminated together with a film in between which prevents the glass from coming apart when it breaks - you can basically turn a window into safety glass by adding safety film to it. So, it wouldn't say prevent your window from getting broken, but would prevent any concern about anyone getting hurt with shards of broken glass. It's designed as a security measure because it also prevents a thief from breaking the window to gain entry to the house.

As for furniture in front of the window being seen from the outside, I would just drape some sheer fabric in front of the window - light will get in, but from the outside no one will really see the furniture.

On the sleeping on two different levels. My kids all sleep on the same level as me - but my daughter (5, soon 6) gets up before me and has the run of the house anyway. She knows the rules, knows not to go outside, not to let anyone in, etc. DS is 3.75 - he tends to still join us in bed, but also gets up before me and they are downstairs together. After age 4 or 5, depending on the child, I wouldn't worry about them being on another level, if they are okay with it (DS wouldn't go for it, he wants to join us at night, DD no longer does) - before that I would try to keep them on the same level.

I probably wouldn't worry about splitting genders until at least a few years older than my daughter is now (DD is almost 6) - I would have no qualms with my kids sharing rooms at the ages they are at now at least.

[NicaG]

I wonder if bunk beds blocking the window would be a safety hazard/violation, in the event of a fire? (can't climb out of/into window)

In our house, the kids sleep on the second floor and we're on the third floor. It's just a few steps up to the third floor, and I'm up and down nursing the baby all night, and it's not a big deal. It's like an extension of the second floor. I think I'd be uncomfortable with the kids on the first floor, though, for the reasons you already suggested (break-ins, unsupervised wanderings into the kitchen, etc.).