Should we turn the playroom into an extra bedroom?

[BirthdayKake]

Help!

Ok so at the minute we have 5 children and are wanting to have one more in a couple of years.

We have four bedrooms - one huge one with an en suite for three girls, one box room for the eldest, only boy, a small double for DH and me and a nursery for the baby (girl).

We have a playroom downstairs that would definitely fit a bed, wardrobe, desk, drawers etc to make it into a bedroom. I'm wondering whether to put my eldest girl (9 years old) in there.

What would everyone else do??

You could add a conservatory to be a replacement play room without the expense of a proper extension.

Weirdly enough we were discussing adding a conservatory/sunroom earlier! I'm not sure it would be possible with the patio the way it is but I will look into it. Thanks

What are the actual ages and sex of the children? That might make a difference.

Also, concpservatories / sunrooms are rubbish if they're not properly insulated or heated. Far better to have a garden room elsewhere if you can fit one in. That could be converted to a self contained space for your eldest eventually.,

Also also, I am one of five children. I bloody hated it growing up! Always trying to get attention, time, noticed especially as one sibling had additional needs.

Absolutely shocked at the amount of people commenting on how many dc the OP should or shouldn't have, what gives anyone the right to lecture others on the amount of children is "environmentally friendly " what a load of bollocks! Wind your self righteous necks in. Presumably if your lurking on a larger family page you have a large family yourself (making you a hypocrite) if not fuck off back to a page that suits your own views and not inflict them on others.

OP if you want another child and can afford it and can emotionally and mentally cope with another then crack on. In regards to rooms sharing you need to bear in mind they wont always be small and will need own space eventually so can you make changes in the future to accommodate like an extension or loft conversion or split bigger rooms into 2?

It’s coming up on Active.

I wouldn’t have a child downstairs by themselves. Could you and dh go into the playroom?

@soontobe6 You May have grown up in a large family and hated it but plenty of people (including myself) loved it.

@nymrgn You have me confused with another poster. I grew up in a large family and loved it so much that I know have my own large family.
@ineedaholidaynow Money was not the main issue in not moving to a nine bedroom house. Our home is already large with six ample bedrooms and three reception rooms. Nine bedroom homes seldom exist in our area so we would have to build or modify which would be time consuming.
My husband works long hours. Like any family we have to allocate our time and resources and we choose to prioritise our children’s needs. The dream house would of been shiny and showy eventually. Living in a caravan on a building site would of been so disruptive to our lives particularly to the kids in exam years.
We all voted to stay put even the large garden and individual rooms wasn’t appealing enough.
So like many other families we are content with not over extending ourselves. We have lovely holidays and can pay and facilitate our kids to have swimming lessons, music lessons and various sporting clubs. No way could this have continued if we were project managing our dream home. A dream home which our eldest children would never have lived in its finished form.
Sharing a bedroom is not a form of child cruelty it can be a positive thing. In fact I had 2 empty bedrooms last night when my 3 teen girls all voluntarily slept in the same room.

Your cramming 3 kids into one room as it is and you want more???

Sorry that was directed at @Soontobe60 similar names

@yellow it's normal to have kids share rooms, a lot of families do... I have so many great childhood memories sharing a room with my sisters.

@nymrgn
@soontobe6

Haha! It was me that hated growing up in a large family! @Soon how many siblings do you have? I'm the middle child, two older dsis and two younger DB. I hope your user name implies that there's going to be six in your family, as opposed to mine which refers to my age! Interestingly, one of my sisters also has five children and says she loved being in a big family and one of her boys - the middle one - always says he hated it! I stuck at two children with a ten year gap 🤣

Years ago sharing rooms was considered to be overcrowded housing. How had that become ok for larger families?

I think 6 plus mum and dad makes big problems for transport as well as sleeping arrangements. You need to minibus!!! From my observation of large families I tend to see the rich ones being fine. They employ help. Nanny takes DC to school. Home help cleans up after them. It can be idyllic and all DC have space and everything they want.

Other families are crammed in and older DC end up being “parents” and carers and don’t have their own life. They don’t complain but have no choice. Sometimes as teens they hate it but cannot get out.

So doing what parents want isn’t always the best decision for everyone. It’s only what they want. Others in the family have no say in the matter yet it impacts very much on them if there are not enough bedrooms or help in the house.

Also don’t get a cheap conservatory. Cold in winter and too hot in summer. Extend for more space but do it properly. If you cannot afford to do this, you cannot afford 6 children.

@soontobe6

Also, having read your last post properly, you seem to be quite well off and so can financially afford to have lots of children. We were quite poor growing up, and this has a massive impact on quality of life.
Do you and your DH not think about the impact on the environment having so many children has? How do you ensure this is minimal? Don't get me wrong, I'm not so smug to think that everything I do is centred around saving the planet.

In my career, teacher, the majority of large families I have taught have been from poor backgrounds and get criticised for having so many children. I suppose because people think if you can't afford that many, don't keep having them. But is it ok to have many children even if you can afford to? We have it drummed into us to reduce out carbon footprint, stop single use plastic, cut carbon emissions and the vast majority of us do so. But surely, the greatest strain on our environment is human beings per se? It's a real moral maze and one that I've not yet found a way out of.

Wow, I really don’t understand the responses of people here!
Firstly, no issue at all with kids sleeping downstairs. No different to a bungalow / flat and also in townhouses the rooms are often upside down anyway with living space at the top.
Secondly, no issue at all in sharing a room. My eldest two do (7 and 9). They don’t need to, but they do. We decided to keep the big bedroom as a playroom and the smaller bedroom as their sleeping room. Needless to say they never play in the playroom and it’s a big waste of space!
It’s funny as on other threads people would be piling in to say how lucky she is to have a playroom, other people could only dream of having a playroom.
My kids are very very close because they share. It’s not a bad thing at all. I have also noticed with homeschooling now how good it is that they are used to be around each other as they don’t get easily distracted and seem to be able to concentrate even with noise of their little brother in the background.
I have a cousin with 6 kids. They are probably the happiest family I know as they are very family centric. They are not wealthy but any means but the parents both have loads of time for their kids as they are not work obsessives and the kids are the main thing in their lives. Think they are happier than little princes with their own en-suite bathroom and both parents out at work all day!

Forgot my actual point which was to say yes, definitely turn the playroom into a bedroom! Ours never gets used, my parents never got used, as kids may not even use it to study as I find my kids just want to do their homework at the kitchen table, don’t use their desks. Only when I was in my gcse year did I ever go up to work when I was younger.

Every parent with a large family thinks it’s great. That’s why they have them. It’s a form of self congratulation.

Of course DC can sleep on a different floor from parents. I don’t see an issue with that but this house has a box room for one bedroom and it’s not ever a given that teenagers will want to share. 7 and 9 year olds are not teenage girls! Life moves on and if you don’t yet have teenagers you don’t know how they might feel. Posters are pointing out that family dynamics change and you haven’t got there yet!

In your circumstances I would definitely make the playroom into a bedroom, the kids will need space and privacy as they get older.

Would it be possible to section off the bigger bedrooms to each give them their own space?

You must be super organised. I have 1 NT toddler and I'm knackered, also my similar sized house it's starting to feel cramped with all his stuff.

One thing I have learned in lockdown is that kids down need loads of stuff! I have noticed that since we have been home there is a lot of stuff my 3 never play with at all. Same with clothes, they tend to wear their same favourites on repeat. This lockdown is definitely a lesson that kids don’t need all the stuff we think they do!

Every parent with a large family thinks it’s great. That’s why they have them. It’s a form of self congratulation.

@BubblesBuddy

Could you be more sweepingly, generalisingly, nasty to parents of larger families?

I have a large family and we used a downstairs room as a bedroom which that child loved.

Been reading this thread with interest as we are/were always shuffling and rearranging as things change.

Our 4 yr old and 10yr shared very happily. But once the elder one went to High School the age gap became too large. The dynamics change all the time.

But OF COURSE you can make it work. We have very high expectations of personal space and 'needs' now and some of these are driven by a very middle class perspective. One poster was asking whether you have room for 8 adults and all boyfriends/girlfriends and friends for the future? God. Is that the expectation? Sure it would be nice but get real.

You say education is very important to you so I doubt your children don't have a place to study or concentrate.

I'm pretty certain if you wanted to debate the environmental aspect of your choices you would have asked a different question. Doesn't stop posters having a very sanctimonious go - from behind their screens.

Yes lots of snide comments on this thread! No one else's business how many children you have unless you can't support them. We have 5 and I don't consider this to be that big a family

I think keep playroom for now if you have a baby and want another - it'll be useful space for separating older and younger children. and then when all abit older move your eldest girl into it as her own bedroom. I really don't think 4 bedrooms with potential to make a 5th bedroom for family with 6 children is too small....on what planet do these posters live?

We had 3 girls sharing until they were 12, 10 & 8 (in a very large double) and we moved house. I'd say by the time eldest goes secondary she might benefit from her own space.

What happens when you have 3 or more in secondary @Namechanger0800, how do they all get their own personal space?