Any of you sleep on a different floor than your children?

[jess_g]

We have a finished attic that we realy don't use but it has a lot of potntial. We could turn it into a bedroom for each kid plus a nice big sitting room, but I worry about them being up there (exspecialy sleeping) without me. The kids are all getting bigger ( youngest is 6) so maybe they are old enough. I am wondering if anyone else has a setup like this and if it's worth trying to setup. I am most concerned about not Bering near them at night in case they need me.

Thanks for all your advice,

Jessica

[caleymama]

Yes, our "master" is on the first floor and DDs' bedroom (shared) and half bath is the entire upstairs (except for some unfinished attic space). Our house is a cape that is only about 1200 square feet, though, so our bedrooms are not far apart despite being on different floors.

[spanannie]

All 3 of our children our upstairs, quite a ways away from our master. It's never been a problem. We have a monitor for the youngest. If the older ones need us, believe me, they come down. Well, one of them does. The oldest has never been one to need anything at night.

[kijip]

We would if the kids were above us. I would have reservations about having kids on lower floors than the parents because it's easier to hear things above you than below and I just kinda would worry if my kids were between me and the ground floor- possible break-ins and then when they are older, sneaking out.

[scmama]

We have our master on the first floor and then then other two bedrooms are on the second floor. Not the best situation for when you have little kids, but I imagine I'll like it more when they are older. Our master is quite large and DS slept in his crib in our bedroom until he was around 8 months or so. DD will be doing the same. We have a video monitor hooked up so it's really easy to see and hear if DS needs us or wakes up. I'll probably keep the video monitor up until they are 18 though :)

[shawnandangel]

DD's bedroom is on the first floor and our bedroom is on the second floor. We keep a baby moniter on at night. DD has what would be the master bedroom. We gave it to her because we don't have a playroom/bonus room in this house and needed a room that she could keep her toys in, and still have room to play.

[sunnyside]

We would if the kids were above us. I would have reservations about having kids on lower floors than the parents because it's easier to hear things above you than below and I just kinda would worry if my kids were between me and the ground floor- possible break-ins and then when they are older, sneaking out.

That, in fact, when we were drawing up our house plans, I was adamant that bedrooms would all be on the top floor (except a guest bedroom), and that the windows to those rooms would be unreachable from the ground. I guess a little paranoid, but I couldn't help it.

[mom2one]

Our master is on the first floor and DS is upstairs. We moved into the house when he was 4 and he is now 6. He has done just fine with it.

[khm]

We moved from a traditional 2-story into a 1.5-story when the kids were 2 and 4.

Our master is on the first floor and their rooms and a bathroom are on the second floor. I was a bit worried about how they'd like it, but wasn't really worried about any safety issues. Our BR is right at the bottom of the stairs, they aren't miles away in a zillion square foot mansion. We can hear them, etc.

We did look at an amazing ranch that had two bedrooms on the main floor and a gorgeous gorgeous finished basement with a bedroom suite down there. We loved this house madly, but could not get comfortable with 1 kid being lower than us. I guess we could have had them share until they got older, but we just didn't want that setup.

As it was with the 1.5-story, the kids didn't care one lick about being on a different level than us. They weren't at all bothered. We did use a cheapy pressure gate on the youngest's door for about a year. We felt fine that the 4 year old could navigate her sleepy self downstairs (we do leave a light on dim), but worried the little one might stumble. He'd just go to the gate and yell if he needed us. :)

[Carrots]

We have a finished attic that we realy don't use but it has a lot of potntial. We could turn it into a bedroom for each kid plus a nice big sitting room, but I worry about them being up there (exspecialy sleeping) without me. The kids are all getting bigger ( youngest is 6) so maybe they are old enough. I am wondering if anyone else has a setup like this and if it's worth trying to setup. I am most concerned about not Bering near them at night in case they need me.

Thanks for all your advice,

Jessica


We have a finished "attic" too. It is really big, although it has eves. Right now it is the guest bedroom & office, but within the next year, DH and I plan on moving up there and possibly adding a bathroom for a master suite. I am actually excited to make better use of the space up there.

[Karenn]

We were on different floors in our old house and it was fine. The house was small and the stairs basically stopped and started right at the bedroom doors so the kids were really only a staircase away. We could hear the kids pretty easily even though we were on the upper floor.

I wouldn't do it in our current house though. Even though the bedrooms are just right above one another, the stairs are at the opposite end of the house from both sets of bedrooms. The house is bigger too. I couldn't get to my kids as quickly as I'd like in the night. Even if I had a baby monitor set up it'd take forever to get to them if something happened.