3 children in a 2 bed house

tiamai_d

You are all right of course, it's going to be a very high risk pregnancy and I am really quite terrified. I am just focusing on the housing situation as I can actually do something to sort that out.

Been looking at the two rooms and although our bedroom is larger, it's a strange shape with doors and windows and a boiler and a werid sticky outy wall bit, and the kids room will be better suited to bunk beds and a cotbed. We did have bunkbeds in there with the cot when DS2 was born and it was fine. Those ones have since been seperated and cant be re-bunked, so we will be looking at new ones. Been looking at how to generally make some more space in the house and have a few ideas to keep my occupied.

skylight

We have 5 kids in a 2 bed house. Its doable. Tight, but doable.

Ikea have become my greatest friend over the last few years - storage is paramount, de-cluttering is essential and sadly tidying/housework is important.

We partioned the front bedroom as its more oblong shape. Amy (14) has a tiny "room" on the end - its about 4'x7' and just fits in a bed a wardrobe and a custom built desk in the tiny spare space. The other section has a shorty bunk bed in it (a normal size wont fit) with a cot bed (so 3 in this section) a large chest of drawers and toy box. I am looking to add castors to the bottom of the cot bed allowing it to be rollered away during the day giving them more room to play.

Its somehing we have gotten used to over the years and dealt with it well. Its going to be hell when the kids get older and we have another plan for creating more space (adding a room onto the house downstairs and OHand I move into there). But there is no way we could have moved from a large house into this.

Lunar_Eclipse

tiamai_d wrote: »

we could move when DS1 is 10, DS2 is 6 and baby is 2. That sounds OK, DS1 has not yet hit puberty and really they will only all be in the same room for about a year.

I think you'll be fine; many families cope in a similar situation.

But regarding your comment about puberty, that really depends on the individual. My 8 year old daughter is already starting puberty and whilst she isn't that private, it is a common age for girls to start having privacy issues. I know girls develop younger, but I know of a few boys that started having wet dreams at 8/9. I'm not trying to scare you, but just thought I would mention that I wouldn't assume 10 is pre-puberty.

Lunar_Eclipse

skylight wrote: »

We have 5 kids in a 2 bed house. Its doable. Tight, but doable.

Please don't take offence as I'm just curious, but I have to ask 'why'? As in why so many children in a small house, if you couldn't afford more space? No thoughts of stopping at two children for example?

Obviously you don't suffer from claustrophobia or excessive noise at all.

Was this normal as you were growing up?

I've just read the rest of this thread which has been a real eye opener! I wonder if this just boils down to whether you are ruled by your head or your heart? We stopped at two children; hubbie said it was madness to consider being outnumbered by a third! Yet we do have four bedrooms.

jellyhead

There were 3 of us in a room, and then when the 4th was too big for a crib and there was no room for a cot or bed in my parents bedroom we moved to a 3-bed house.

At the time of moving I was ten and a half and privacy didn't bother me at that age. I know everyone's different though. My sister was a year younger, and my brother was 5. His bed was a small toddler sized one, there was no room for more bunks in our room because chimney breasts etc. made the room a funny shape.

When I was 12 I wanted privacy, for some reason I wasn't bothered about siblings seeing my bras at age ten but at 12 I hid my sanitary products away and was upset when my sister saw them.

Perhaps your eldest could keep sanitary things in a cupboard in the bathroom, and nobody would know whether they were hers or yours? Our bathroom was a tiny square, no room for a cupboard or anything, just a bath and toilet.

Also, a lock on the bathroom door would allow your eldest to get dressed without fear of somebody bursting in.

I know somebody whose 'baby' is still in the same room as the parents. She is 3 now, but the two older boys just don't want to share a bedroom with a little girl.

skylight

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

Please don't take offence as I'm just curious, but I have to ask 'why'? As in why so many children in a small house, if you couldn't afford more space? No thoughts of stopping at two children for example?

Obviously you don't suffer from claustrophobia or excessive noise at all.

No offence taken!

It kind of just happened! I am one of just 2 in my family, so didn't hanker after a large family. As I said, you just get used to it. I often watch "housing" programs and think that although I would love a bigger house (4/5 bed), how would we actually fill it? :rotfl:

And we are all different - I find it odd that a good friend of mine has only one child and is sticking at that. She feels that with one she can spend more time/money etc but all I see is one spoilt child (not generalising, but if you knew the child...:rolleyes:)

xxlaurissaxx

Ther was 6 of us in a 2 bedroom house! :O (2 adults, mum and dad and 4 kids)
We coped tho and I thought it was great for going to sleep at night, especially before we went on holiday etc as we would all sit and talk to each other about what we were going to while we were on holiday etc. Think that made us really close, plus my mum and dad are from large families so this is what it was like for them growing up. (Mums was like the Waltons) lol
It is do-able and even looking back now i dont think we were cramped at all! Mind you our house was rather long front to back.
My mum and dad had 1 room, the kitchen (very long) got devided into 2 and the back room was turned into a room for my little brother
The 2nd bedroom was divided and my big sis got one to herself whilst me and my little sister shared.

You should be ok and you'll manage fine. xx

xxlaurissaxx

skylight wrote: »

No offence taken!

It kind of just happened! I am one of just 2 in my family, so didn't hanker after a large family. As I said, you just get used to it. I often watch "housing" programs and think that although I would love a bigger house (4/5 bed), how would we actually fill it? :rotfl:

And we are all different - I find it odd that a good friend of mine has only one child and is sticking at that. She feels that with one she can spend more time/money etc but all I see is one spoilt child (not generalising, but if you knew the child...:rolleyes:)

My cousin is an only child and omg she is spoilt. My aunty thinks the sun shines out of her a** :rolleyes:

As my mum says, one child is a lonely child and i think that is true. My cousin was and she never had anyone to talk too like I did. xx

RoxieW

You can buy bunk beds that have a double on the bottom and single at top - for when baby is out of a cot of course

skylight

You can buy triple bunks too so that they all have their own bed. (3 seperate beds - not a double on the bottom). You could get a single bed with a guest trundle underneath so if room allowed, you could have 2 of these in a room so 4 kids can sleep but 2 beds are put away during the day for extra space.