Sleeping on a different floor to young children

[JojobaFromOctober]

We have a 4 year old and a 6 year old. We currently live in a flat so we're all on the same level, but looking to buy something bigger soonish.

We like the look of one that has the master bedroom one floor higher than the other bedrooms. I think it would be really nice for teenagers or older children, but what's it like with such little children? Does anyone live with a similar set up?

They generally sleep well and only come in to our room in the morning but of course there's the odd nightmare or illness. The main bathroom is on the same level as the non-master bedrooms.

My 7 year old has her own floor above us. She’s fine. She comes down to our floor to use the bathroom in the night then goes back up no problem. Nursery is up there too but baby is in with us atm.

We sleep a floor above our DC, which were the same age as yours when we first started doing it. I was fleetingly worried about DD not being able to find us in the dark as she would often come in to us during the night, but I forgot about it and lo and behold she appeared as usual with no problems 😁 you can always pop a monitor somewhere if you're worried you won't hear something. We have had to put a lock on the kitchen door mind 😂

I lived in a house with 2 bedrooms, one above the other. The top floor had always been my room but when my son arrived I swapped as I wasn't comfortable having him below me in case he went downstairs/tried to go out of the door/someone broke in. It felt better knowing someone would have to go past my door to get to him.

My ds is 6 and has a room in loft conversion, we sleep in room downstairs. He loved the idea but does sometimes struggle saying he wants to be in with us. Most of the time once he's asleep he sleeps all night no bother. My mum also sleeps in the loft conversion so he's not up there alone

It's a sort of 'upside down' set up. The main entrance goes into the first floor from some outside steps, and the first floor has the master bedroom and all the main living space. Then the ground floor has the other bedrooms and the main bathroom. There is a door to the outside from the ground floor, but it's not the main entrance. So either way I suppose if someone broke in during the night it would depend which entrance they chose whether they were on 'our' floor or the kids' floor.

Just leave the hall light on at night so they can easily find you if they want to, and won't trip over anything.

We live in a 3 storey townhouse with the master bedroom on the upper floor. When DC was first going into their own at 6 months, I was abit wary but we used a monitor and it took a few seconds to reach them. We probably used the monitor longer than most would but it hasn’t been a problem at all for us and I still hear the shouts or crying on the rare occasion they happen, even now without the monitor.

Hi - we did this from when ours had their own rooms at 6m, zero problems, we were strict anyway on them not getting into bed with us and if they needed us in the night they called rather than coming up - we had a monitor and also a stair gate as stairs in the dark seemed a bad idea but your kids may be old enough - go for it and good luck!

DS6 has been in his room the floor below us since we moved and he was 3 (almost 4). He has always been fine and managed to stairs whenever needed or just yelled if he wanted/needed to stay in bed.

I find kids adapt to what ever the situation and don't overthink as much as we do.

We have tween/teen and we have a downstairs bedroom. They sleep upstairs.
It's perfect for a bit more privacy.
We have done this since DS2 was 10.
When DS2 was little he didn't like going upstairs on his own, but was OK if his brother was upstairs too.

I think your children will get used to the sleeping situation, and it will be great when they are a couple of years older.

We are top floor. Ds middle floor. Dd's ground floor.
Dd's know if there is a fire to throw a chair through the window and gtf out!

No, personally I wouldn't like to sleep on a different floor to my young children. I'd worry about them falling down the stairs in the dark, or the potential of break-ins or fire. We're in the process of planning a loft conversion. We could have had a huge master bedroom up there but it felt incredibly uncomfortable to me, so we're going for two smaller rooms which will be for our teenagers. It means we can be on the same floor as the younger ones.

Where does the ground floor door lead them to if it was opened
How secure is it?

Personally no I would want to be on the same floor overnight as my children especially while they are young.

Where does the ground floor door lead them to if it was opened

It just leads into the back garden.

It's a very low crime area so I'm not particularly worried about that. Fire more so, but I was generally just thinking about the logistics of them getting between floors in the night if they needed to / hearing if there is a problem.

@Santaischeckinglists
It's very hard/impossible for most people to break a window by throwing a chair at it. Do the windows open?
Not what this thread is about, but it doesn't sound like a good escape plan.

We have single glazed windows....

We're in the loft conversion, kids are the floor below us. DC were 8 and 5 when we moved up here - I wouldn't have felt comfortable younger than 4.

We wouldn't want a house with master bedroom on top floor and kids bedrooms on middle floor. Not so much being 1 floor away in the night but being 2 floors away if they get up early in the morning and go downstairs and get into mischief.

@Hmmhowhardtochooseaname

We wouldn't want a house with master bedroom on top floor and kids bedrooms on middle floor. Not so much being 1 floor away in the night but being 2 floors away if they get up early in the morning and go downstairs and get into mischief.

I get that, but that's not the set up in this particular house. They'd have to come upstairs to make mischief, or make mischief in their rooms I suppose!