Kids sleeping on floor below parents

[AllyAlly]

Would it bother you if your kids' bedrooms were not on the same floor as your own? It wouldn't if they were above us but the house we have seen the kids' bedrooms are on the floor below the master bedroom. I am concerned about that. Would you be? I know we would have a burglar alarm but it just sets my own alarm bells ringing.
Thanks

My children sleep on the floor below us. We have the loft extension. Never been any problems.

Thanks. I am such a worry wart!

our ds sleeps on the floor below us, which is actually the ground floor. i was twitchy about it initially but have got over it now! he's 7 now, moved himself down when he was 3.5. coincidentally when his baby sister was born....

NOt at all - I can see why if you are buying/renting a place with that set up you might consider all angles. The difference with our situation is that right from the get go the loft was designed with us in mind - en-suite bathroom and layout designed for adults rather than children, and so was only natural for us that the children would be floor below.

We have a baby monitor positioned in the first floor hallway, and it is VERY sensitive, so can always hear when the children leave their rooms, and any noises from the first floor (let alone crying).

We're in a town house so have always slept on the floor above dd - never had any worries.

It does bother me
We have a loft conversion and we don't sleep up there

I'd be reluctant to sleep on a different floor to ds because I'd worry about fire.

We have a townhouse with bedrooms on the top floor - you really can't hear anything on the ground floor where the kitchen is so we still use a baby monitor while we are downstairs. I guess if our bedrooms were on different floors I'd keep it on all night.

If we did move into a house with that set-up, think I'd get the local fire safety people out (they will visit any house for free to do a home safety check) and follow their advice.

Perhaps I'm particularly concerned about fire because when I was a kid, we were driving home when we saw loads of smoke that looked like a house on fire. The closer we got to our house, the more obvious it was that it was our neighbourhood, our road, our end of the road... the dawning realisation is a very strong memory.

Fortunately it was our garage and the next door neighbour's, not the house (turned out their teenage daughter had been smoking there). But that feeling in the pit of your stomach was horrid.

Another time, our toaster burst into flames and the damp cloth trick I'd seen on Blue Peter didn't work. We fetched a neighbour who put it out (think mother had gone to work but au pair had sneaked out - she was sacked).

We used to live a townhouse. DD1, then 6, had the option of sharing a big room with DD2 on the top floor where our room also was, or having her own, much smaller room, on the floor below. She chose the latter and it was fine.

But the house was quite a new build, so it had self-closing doors and 3 interconnected smoke alarms in the house. Could you fit these in your house to reassure you?

Good point, if you buy a townhouse, make sure you have smoke alarms on every floor. (Dh got a bit over-enthusiastic and even put one in the integral garage which has no power supply and is only used for storage, not cars!)

We have mains wired fire/smoke alarms on all floors. Strangely, I am happier being in the loft wrt fire than I would be for the children. I suppose partly because I can envisage an escape route for them from the first floor, whereas from the loft, they would have to be rescued via the escape velux by a fire engine with ladders.

We converted our loft and so we sleep in our room and children sleep on floor below. If you are talking about a house where the loft has been converted, there are strict fire regulations (fire doors, fire alarms and windows which can be reached by fireman's ladder) - they would have to comply with them if they are selling the loft conversion as another room

My DC sleep in the loft coversion and we sleep on the floor below - no problems.

We sleep on top floor with onedc, other two floor below. Never occurred to me to be bothered bt it.

Our kids sleep downstairs in summer as it is hot in our house upstairs.

I think I woudl prefer them to sleep above generally as I culd hear them if they got out of bed.

Slightly off topic but AIBU to still put a stairgate across the top of the stairs when we go to bed to make sure they cannot sleep walk down the stairs even if they are 6 and 8 years old.

We have a very similar set up to pooka. I did worry a tiny bit initially. We have "proper" fire doors and a mains wired smoke detector with battery back up (building regulations when we had the loft converted).

ABetaDad - re the stairgate that sounds reasonable. It's not doing anyone any harm is it.

p.s. I had a little when I read thread title - I have visions of your dcs sleeping on the floor directly under your double bed.I was about to reply YABU!

We are looking at poss of moving and ruling out 3 storey properties where this would be the case because as i too am a worry wart

onepieceofcremeegg - I do not think it is unreasonable but our DS1 is beginning to say he thinks we are treating him like a baby because he cannot just go downstairs in the morning at 6.00 a.m. and switch the TV on instead of having to stay upstairs and read.

He cannot get the gate open himself without making a noise and I have told him he must not wake me before 7.30.

Could you train your ds1 to open the gate without a noise? Or tell him that you know he is not a baby but his younger 6 year old sibling still needs the stairgate?

I am a bit at you not being woken before 7.30. In our house we are ecstatic if the baby lasts until 6am.

Our DS1 does nothing quietly.

Apparently he gets hit from his Dad - says his mother

That last post should read:

Our DS1 does nothing quietly.

Apparently he gets it from his Dad - says his mother.

[Have social services ever been called round over a typo]

I have a number of friends in this position. Two sleep in the floor above their children, and it all seems fine. The others have one of their children up quite a narrow steep staircase into a loft conversion, and I do think that's a bit worrying but they are responsible people and must be ok with it.

Cheers mi dears - so much to think about!!