Kids Sleeping Below You?

might be ok now.. but what about when they are teens adn sneaking out at night.. ??

I like us all upstairs together so I can hear them.. and they cant escape.

i am absolutely dumbfounded by the answers!
maybe it's because we've never had a house with an upstairs (sob....i love and long for a traditional farmhouse with a wraparound porch) but i just can't get my brain around NOT buying a perfect house because the kids would be on the bottom floor and......
really? because teenagers sometimes sneak out?
i guess it's just me.
reasonable precautions make sense to me. living in fear does not. i could never get one single night of sleep if i really believed that someone was going to kidnap my children in spite of good locks. and sneaky teenagers is a whole issue unto itself, but the idea that putting them on the 2nd floor would prevent a determined one just makes me giggle. we've always lived in ranchers. my older boy snuck out once when he was 5 (and had a rotten little friend sleeping over). we explained to him why this was a terrible idea, and he never wanted to do it again. maybe being homeschooled as teenagers, with plenty of freedom in their self-made schedules and all the opportunities for hanging out with friends that they wanted, there just wasn't a driving desire to do it. younger has never snuck out.
i assumed when i saw the title of the post that the worry would be kids hearing the parents make whoopie!
i guess i'm the odd woman out here. there's just no way i'd pass on a perfect house because of this. worst case scenario you can put the kids upstairs and take one of the smaller bedrooms for a while, right? not what i'd do, but if it made a perfect house work?
khairete
S.

Yes, I'm okay with it because we do it. We have an old bungalow and a large master suite in the attic space - child in the downstairs bedroom. We've never had a problem.

In my house, the kids are all upstairs, while the master is downstairs. The kids can't sneak out when they hit their teens, and no one can break in and kidnap them.

I honestly don't know how I would feel if I were upstairs and all the kids were downstairs.

Are people really considering not buying a house because teenagers could sneak out of it more easily? Trust me, from a former "sneaker outer" there is always a way and if not the old "I'm staying at my BFF's house tonight" usually does the trick.
Our house is over the side of a canyon so both stories have doors to the outside. Master on the top floor, which oddly is the main floor and kids rooms downstairs.
If you love the house don't let things that are very temporary drive you off. Your kids aren't babies anymore, in a few years you'll LOVE having them on a different floor. Big kids like a little privacy too and having a "kid" floor is great when they have friends over.

I would be perfectly OK with it. If you love the house, go for it!

I've raised teenagers - if they're going to sneak around, the placement of their bedroom won't stop them. In fact, if your teens are sneaking out at night, you have much bigger problems to deal with than the layout of your house. Kidnapping? sorry, I have more of a chance of being hit by lightening, multiple times, than having a child kidnapped out of my house. Besides, I sleep like a mom. In other words, I wake up at the slightest sound when my kids are in my home.

Why don't you temporarily put both children in the master bedroom (my children love sharing!), and take the other bedroom for yourselves?

Then when you feel a little more comfortable, and your children are a bit older, they can move downstairs, and you can take the master.

I like Lisa o's answer. I actually found a house I LOVED, but the mater bedroom was on the whole other side of the house and the other rooms that would have been the kids were close to the garage door. My friend pointed this out to me and needless to say we ended up getting another house! But that was us, you go with your gut! Good Luck!

Personally, I would never do it. I would feel freaked out about it. I am not sure this is rational. I am not actually worried about a kidnapping or anything. Statistics are actually very low on those - most "kidnappings" are domestic disputes. But no matter, I would feel unsettled so I would not do it.
Perhaps you can rework it and make the master downstairs? Can you do a minor construction job and take the 2 downstairs bedrooms and make it one big master suite while the 2 kids sleep upstairs? Also think of the issue of one kid having a nice big room while the other has a very small one. I don't know but I wouldn't do that.
Tough decisions!

I can't tell you how many houses we passed up because the master bedroom was nowhere near the other bedrooms for the kids!
We held out and finally found a home with 3 bedrooms upstairs, including the master bedroom and one master sized bedroom downstairs that we use for my sewing/craft room and library. When we bought this house my oldest was not quite 2 yet and we knew that we were going to try for #2 shortly after moving in.
When we look for a house again we will stick to our guns that the bedrooms must be near each other for all 3 kids and us, even though my kids are now 11,8 and almost 3.
You can't hear them if they get sick and are halfway across the house etc.

My husband grew up in a 3 level home and he NEVER did sneak out.. My sister did sneak out of my moms home and it was one level..

I think this is the least of your worries. They will be fine.

Just get good locks on all of the doors.

Are one of the bedrooms downstairs big enough for master? It would make me nervous to have the kids down there.

Ps. I work right near West Chester. It is nice to see someone so close :)

I would totally be ok with it. Although all our bedrooms are on the top floor, in the summers my kids spend many night downstairs, they usually put in movies and fall asleep, or play video games til late. I have no issue at all with this.
And I agree with some others, if you have a teen that is going to sneak out, it doesn't matter if they are in the same room as you, they are doing it.

Don't. How if someone break your house and kidnap the kids. There's a girl named Isabelle Celis, who disappeared from her room after the goodnight bye bye with his father. Is it possible to sleep together in the master bedroom? My parents and my siblings do it until we were teenagers. It felt safe and nice to know they were with me.

we have been in our town house for almost 5 years, my where 2 and 4 when we moved in, and their rooms are below ours. it has never been an issue.

Same situation in my house. Right now I have the girls both in the second upstairs bedroom across from us, but since I plan to someday move them into the two rooms downstairs, we got a dog. I think I'll be a lot more comfortable knowing the dog is down there with them to patrol the downstairs and bark out a warning if there is anything funny going on (fire, intruder, teenagers trying to sneak in or out... ;)

I would never even think about kids being kidnapped or teens sneaking out because of the location of where the kids' bedrooms are in relation to the master bedroom. I sleep with earplugs every night. Then again, I am not a worrier at all.

I would convert the upstairs large room into two bedrooms...I would not want my children sleeping below me. I would also install a gate at the stair. I'm sure if this is the right home for your family, you will be able to make this your real dream home.

Blessings....and keep us posted.

That would bother me also. Go with your gutt on this one!

It would make me uncomfortable. Get an alarm...ours helps me sleep at night!

If you love the house then get it and purchase a baby monitor. Then you can hear your kids if they need something.

We have a one level home with a split floor plan. I don't like that my daughter is on the opposite side of the house, I know she will not sneak out she is only 5. I do worry if there were an emergency because she is not next to our room. I do have a baby monitor and I am a very light sleeper so I hear everything.

I couldn't do it. Kids above, maybe. Kid's below, no.

We just moved from a house that had only the master upstairs and 3 bedrooms down. I hated it and my son who was also an independent sleep (4) started to not like it other. My husband was always worried if someone broke in that my son was down there. Not that we lived in a bad area. Now we are all upstairs and it's so much better. I would never go back.

So there are 2 bedrooms on the first floor and 2 on the second? That is just odd to me. It's usually 3 on the top floor and the master on the first.

I think I would use the upstairs bedroom as a bonus room and sleep downstairs with the kids or not pick this house.

I have issues with the kids being between me and the door, I like it the other way around myself. If you are questioning it, then your gut is telling you something and I would listen.
Good luck

I was living in a townhouse when my boys were under 2 yrs old. The master bed was on the bottom floor, it was big and had a full bathroom. I made that my kids room on purpose because of the bathroom being so convenient, it was big enough for a bed and a crib. We slept on the top floor.

*Mom ears work really well no matter what the acoustics are like.

With good, high locks and good stern family meeting about not leaving the house or opening the doors without you present is all you should need to do.
I'd have those talks BEFORE moving to the house just so they don't relate the new house to a fear of being on the bottom floor and you on the top.
I think it's an irrational fear.

I can't say as i would be super comfortable, BUT i know how hard it can be to find the right house.

A few suggestions, A baby monitor might at least help you hear if they are needing you. Also my guess is that they would probably be pretty good if one got sick then the other coudl go get you. If they can safely navigate to get to you, lots of night lights.

Without seeing the layout it's hard to suggest other options. i do agree that some how having you downstairs and them up might make me feel better.

Logically they will be out of the house in another10-15 yr and you would probably have the house for 50 yrs, if it was that perfect, but yet....

tough call, I'm sure people do it though.

I personally would not do it. I tend to worry too much about things. I like my child close to me. You do what makes you comfortable, but I would keep looking. Good luck.

our kids sleep 1 floor down from us. We live in a 4 story town home though. The master bedroom is the top floor, and the kids rooms are on the 3rd floor. It's not the main level, but I was nervous about it at first because my daughter does get scared at night, but so far it has been ok. If that's the only concern for you and you love the rest of the house, then I would go for it.

I have recntly been looking at houses and have had to think about this. Previously I would have said never, but having looked at many houses, I can see the possibility of having the kids upstairs. I would not be able to sleep upstairs with the kids alone downstairs. But even tho I don't like the idea of having kids on another floor, it could work. I would still feel uncomfortable but I can see some benefits. My kids are 4 and 7. As they get older i can see even more why it could work, but I would be too afraid to have them below. I would take the two downstairs bedrooms for yourself, make one a dressing room if you have too much furniture for the smaller rooms, and put the kids upstairs, either together and use other room as a playroom or split them up. But I would put the kids upstairs.

When we were moving and looking for a house, we found many had master bedrooms totally away from the others.
One house was great, but the master bedroom was off the kitchen on the 1st floor and all the rest were across the house, up the stairs, down another long hall - it was like a major commute.
There's no way I wanted our son all alone so far away on the other side of the house.
We found another house with one bedroom next to the master bedroom and 2 others on the other end of the house (but it's not a huge distance).
Right now he likes the room near ours, but when he's an older teen if he wants a bigger room on the other side it will be fine if he wants to shift rooms.

Keep in mind: the 'big' room upstairs was usually for the kids in years gone by. Some families split into 2-3 rooms depending on income. Wealthy families had the boys' room, girls' room, & day nursery (playroom). Less well off, kids all slept in one big room.

The adults slept below in a smaller room (or room each). The reasoning was 2fold:

1) the adults 'had' the rest of the house, but just slept in the bedroom... While the kids spent most of their time in the rooms / playroom (day nursery).

2) you can HEAR the kids through the floor. Both in the daytime and at night. Even the bathroom upstairs was originally for KIDS who have to pee in the night until age 7 or 8 typically.

So it's a thing to think about