Mum, dad and three kids in one bedroom apartment overcrowded? Your thoughts?

[Leah5678]

Just out of curiosity but what with the current high prices of buying a house and renting and the long council waiting lists. How crowded is your home (number of bedrooms, children etc)

I know the average mumsnetter is wealthier than the average person but I also know a lot of you lovely ladies on here do a lot of work helping the less fortunate. Do you find overcrowding like three children in a one bed to be quite common or is it rare?

Ps I do not have three children so no personal attacks lol

Reads like a journalist post. I'm sure there is plenty of statistics available to answer your question o how common this is.

Why the hell would it be a journalist post and why would it matter if it was? If you don't want to answer the question don't but why leave passive aggressive shitty comments

I grew up in a small 3 bedroom house with 2 parents, 2 siblings and a grandparent. So I shared with my 2 siblings. Downstairs was small and open plan which made things harder. Yes it was overcrowded, nowhere to be alone. I’ve bought a house with lots of separate rooms! 3 bedrooms for two parents and two kids. Yes a one bed for a family of 5 is severely overcrowded, surely that’s obvious?

Sorry maybe I didn't word my post very well I wasn't asking if it was overcrowded I was asking how common it is. Where I live houses are expensive to buy and rent and the council waiting list is ten years. So I'm wondering how everyone is living 🤔

I think 2 parents and 3 kids sharing a bedroom is rare.

I don't think 3 siblings sharing a bedroom is that rare.

Yes but op wants to know about the less fortunate souls you kindly bestow your middle class wisdom on. Surely you know some poor people you can talk about!

If you don’t have three children, then why does it matter if you’re only hypothetically sharing one room?

Are you worried about your children sharing a room, or do the children you have share a room with you? How many children do you have?

A one bed for five is crowded, possibly they use sitting room as a bedroom. We are five but in a decent size 3 bed (all big bedrooms). I don’t know anyone who has more than two kids in a room tbh owners/ private renters / council tenants.

I'll cut to the point and mention my personal life seeing as other posters are accusing me of being a journalist 🙄. What do you think of mum and and dad sleeping in the lounge with two or three children in the bedroom? We only have one child at the moment and can't afford to move somewhere bigger.
Is this common or will my children be bullied for being some kind of exception?

My daughters have always shared. After we lost dh they moved into the larger bedroom and I moved into the small bedroom. Now one is at uni so they have their own rooms apart from the holidays. 2 bedroom house

we have 3 children and each child has thier own room and then me and DH share!

Growing up I shared a room with my sister.

I live in a fairly middle class town so dont really know many people here that even have siblings sharing a room!

I'm sure if I lived 15 miles away in our closest city there would be many many people crowded into small apartments and houses.

I think you'd be mad to consider having more children in your situation.

Kids are really expensive, not just in terms of accommodation. I would definitely focus on giving your existing kid the best you can as any additional will mean the money is spread much more thinly.

There was a family of 5 living above me in a one bed flat until recently, mum dad 3 kids, 2 girls and a boy, all school age, oldest was in secondary school. They lived here for 3 years. The flat above is private rented so I assumed they knew the landlord as not sure why else they would rent it to someone with that many children.

Not common at all, IME. I actually don't know anyone, other than singletons, who live in a one-bed apartment. Certainly not with children. I'd argue you can't afford another child.

I live in London (zone 1) and siblings sharing is extremely common.

Most people I know with 2 or more children have [some] siblings sharing a room.

I know quite a few parents who have a sofa bed in the lounge whilst the kids share 1 or 2 bedrooms. This is either because of number of DC, boy/girl dynamics (usually age dependent) or in a few cases one child needs their own room due to ND

One of my family and his ex-wife had six kids in a small three-bed council house. Parents in one room, three boys in one, three girls in the other, ages ranging from late teens down to toddler. The difference in ages made it particularly hard, because (as well as nobody having a desk or a quiet space for homework etc) the teens didn't get anything like the level of privacy they should have had, and it's hard to maintain proper bedtimes for a three-year-old who needs to be going to bed at 7pm when they share a room with a 13-year-old and a 16-year-old who go to bed at 10.30pm and lay in bed watching crap on their phones etc.

There’s a reason we have overcrowding laws. It’s really bad for physical and mental health. If you have another child of the opposite sex, once your eldest is ten they shouldn’t be sharing a bedroom.

Personally I wouldn’t have 2 or 3 children when you’ve only got 1 bedroom. It’s all the extra stuff each child has also and the expense. I think we all have to live within our means

If you currently have one child are you planning twins? Whole post is very odd.

I know a family of mum dad and 3 children with their dog in 2 bed flat. Manage okay I think. Youngest is 5 soon.

What do you think of mum and and dad sleeping in the lounge with two or three children in the bedroom?

This would not be an acceptable way to live and raise kids, in my opinion. I would not be bringing more children into your situation.

I work with asylum seekers who generally stay in Home Office provided flats and houses (not the same as local authority accommodation).

2 parents are expected to share a bedroom with a baby in a cot.

Single parent expected to share bedroom with same sex child until 16 or different sex child until 10 (2 x single beds).

Otherwise 2 people to a bedroom plus a living room.

For siblings, over 16s don't share bedrooms. Over 10s of different genders don't share rooms.

Anything else is considered overcrowding.

Your situation would be considered massively overcrowding.

In your situation I would think one DC is enough, can't imagine why you would be contemplating having 3