Thinking 4 year olds will be fine on the top floor?

[Sailers]

DH and I live in a 6 bedroom house, the first floor has 3 bedrooms, the 2nd a further 3. By size bedroom 1 (master) is first floor, 2 and 3rd second floor, 4th and 5th first and 6th is on the 2nd.
Currently Bedroom 1 is DH and Is, 2 is the guest room, 3 is DHs office, 4 and 5 are our 4 year old twins rooms and 6 is my office.
The girls are about to start school, so we decided we would update their bedrooms to go with. I think we should move them up a floor into the two bigger rooms. They don't really keep toys in their room or do anything their but sleep, but I imagine in the next couple of years or so they will start to and I don't plan to be redoing their rooms after this for a while. They have a playroom downstairs where they spend most of their time.
DH thinks they are too young to be on a different floor, don't have any need for the space and should keep their current rooms until the next time we update their rooms (maybe when they are 9/10), as until then they will do homework down the stairs and mostly play in the playroom where their toys are. They also both wake up every now and then and he is worried about them coming downstairs to get us on their own (in case they fall etc.)
If we move them to a bigger room DH would move his office to bedroom 5 which won't fit the sofa bed currently in his office so we would have less space for guests (but the girls could have double beds so if we had more guests than the guest room fits we could bunk them in together).
The kids bathroom (with a bath and all their stuff etc.) is on the top floor too so it would mean bedtime is a lot less up and downing.

AIBU thinking 4 year olds will be fine on a different floor? or should we keep them where they are for now?

I think they are still quite small to be on a different floor. I’d worry they could vomit and you wouldn’t hear or would fall getting to you.
If you put to bed and you are downstairs could you hear if they are messing around etc.

Personally, given the choice, I would want them on the same floor at that age. But I think they would probably be fine on the floor above as well.

Ours are on separate floors to us, aged 4 and 2. We have a baby monitor so no different to them being in another room on the same floor - totally fine.

We’ve got 7 bedrooms so lots of choice but we ended up with our 10 year old right next to us. She still wakes up occasionally and it’s handy if she’s ill. Teenage DD is floor above - would not have had her on a a different floor until 12+.

I wouldn't put my 5yo on a different floor to me. 8yo maybe, at a push.

I think about 9+ before I’m comfortable. My two are 8 and 12 and this is base on what I’m seeing with my two.

If they are sick in the middle of the night, they will just cry in their room. Not knowing to come out until much more mature.

We did it from about 18 months. As soon as she was regularly sleeping through. We did use a baby monitor so she could call us. It was absolutely fine. I don't understand the concern of other posters.

@eurochick not so much concern or worry - I'm just lazy. We have mega stairs on four floors and my Garmin tells me I’m in the top 1% of stair climbers worldwide! Anything to cut down on the constant stair climbing…

Your husband is right, they aren't going to individually retreat to their rooms to play, leave it for a few years (save your brass as we'd say in Yorkshire)

We had a loft conversion done several years ago when my kids were 6 and 1. The plan was to put our eldest in the loft and we would be on the next floor down with our youngest. Then someone asked " What if there's a fire? You'd have to go upstairs to grab the eldest child, then all the way back down again. If you were in the loft you only have one trip to make".So we had the loft.

My DD is 4.5 and also starting school in September. I'm afraid there's no way I'd have her on a different floor to us. If she was ill in the night she'd struggle to get to us and she does still come into us in the middle of the night sometimes. Also, there's a big difference between an awake 4 yr old walking down stairs, and a half asleep upset one, who would be far more likely to fall. My Goddaughter is 7 and I'd only just be thinking it's ok with her to be honest.

Ours were 7. 4. and not quite 2 when we moved here, and all have always been on a different floor from us. Not an issue.

We had DS on the floor below us since he was tiny...we had a good baby monitor that we used up until he was about 5 though, and he was absolutely fine.

The couple of times our smoke alarm went off in the night (due to a spider inside it) we were able to grab DS on our way downstairs which worked well. And any time he was unwell one of us slept down on his floor with him.

By 4 years old your DC should be fine on a different floor.

I’m pretty laid back but I’d worry re a tired or poorly dc navigating stairs it’s different to them on same floor. You don’t want to wake hearing bump of child falling down stairs.
Good point about fire safety plans - what’s plan if stairs blocked and you can’t get to them.

Our dc went to a different floor to us as soon as they were in their own rooms, so 7 months for ds, then 12 months for dd. We put a baby gate across the stairs and had a baby monitor. It's always been fine, I wouldn't have given it a second thought had I not seen a similar thread to this on mn before!

Mine are 5 and 3, and I think I'd be ok with the 5 yo being a floor above us. She's pretty sensible for her age,I do think it depends on the child.

The fire aspect is one to consider, but on the whole I'd be more worried about a floor below than a floor above - in case they wandered down to the kitchen or front door. That would be more likely than a fire IMO.

Ive slept on a different floor to my kids since they were 1&2. They both had baby monitors initially and now we just sleep with open doors so I can hear them. It's not been an issue. I always hear night wake ups and they know where I am if they choose to come up to me which DD does. DS is lazy and chooses to just yell me instead from his bed. Video monitors might put your mind at rest if you're worried. I can hear just as well with them down one flight as I could when they were in the room next to me TBH. I keep the landing light on to make it easy if we get up in the night.

It's not ideal but our house layout means there will always be someone on the top floor and they do play in their rooms together and separately now so it makes sense to keep them together. Plus it's where the family bathroom is so works well for us.

I’m with your dh. I don’t think there’s any big safety issue but it’s the other things - save the faff for when they’re older and want a different style of room, they don’t need the space, they play in another room anyway, and you’ll avoid having to relocate his office. It just seems like a lot of redecorating and moving things around for no benefit.

Totally fine! I live in a town house and there's only one bedroom on the top floor and that's the master with en-suite and storage. There's 2 bedrooms on the middle floor.
Our daughter has slept there since she was 8 months old. We have a baby monitor and when she was little she had a baby gate.

My little girl is 4 btw.
It's no different when she goes to bed and we sit downstairs.

Having had the misfortune to experience being in a fire, I would never want my children sleeping on a different floor to me.

My 4 and newly 3 year old are on the floor above and are totally fine. I have a monitor in each room and they call out if they need anything. I have a stairgate latched overnight but open all day, so they don't try to come down. I sometimes sleep up there if someone is ill, but I can and have heard if there's any middle of the night illness.

It was a consideration when we were buying the house, but it's been completely fine.

My neighbours dd is on the floor above, only a toddler. It's normal here as the houses are all 3 bed with master on middle floor and other bedrooms above