Rethink Those Sleeping Arrangements

by Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger

I don't mean the sleeping arrangements for your baby although it would be logical to assume so. What I mean is the sleeping arrangements for your older children. Let me explain further. When we found out we were having not one baby but two babies, we decided that we needed bunk beds for the girls and a loft bed for our son. The 'play room' (if you can call it that) is under the loft bed and this is the only play space the kids have. (If you're not familiar with living arrangements in New York City just trust me when I say that New Yorkers get the whole idea of coziness.)

We realized that with two toddlers in the house it might be tricky to keep them off but we figured with a gate we could keep them safe and off of the high parts of the bed. So the bedrooms are gated, allowing the older kids to climb into the rooms to play with their toys but keeping the twins at a safe difference from the high beds. What we didn't count on was twin power.

If you haven't guessed already, one of my twins fell from the loft bed yesterday. She has a nice big black eye to show for it. Thankfully, the dresser half way underneath the loft bed broke her fall. I realize that sounds horrible, but the reality is that without the dresser she would've fallen about 6 1/2 feet to the hard wood floor instead of the 18 inches that she did fall. She did tumble to the floor, but a broken fall was better than a straight one in this case.

Apparently, the twins got together and decided they needed to get into this room. They used a wooden kitchen stool as a battering ram and knocked the gate down. The stool can easily be moved by the children--in fact it's there for their use to help with the cooking. So two of them apparently have no problem picking it up and pushing it into the gate until it falls down.

Then they proceeded to join the other children playing. At this point, the other kids are calling me. I came, but I didn't rush because well, I have five kids under the age of 8. If I came for every scream, I'd do nothing else all day. In the time it took me to grab Emily and pull her off the loft bed, remove her from the room and replace the gate. . .Laura had flipped over the edge.

I write this because I know lots of parents get bunk beds in the hopes of saving space. I realize that not all of you have twins and that is definitely a key component in this story. But when you're rearranging your spaces to accommodate more children, I would encourage you to think through the first few years of the baby's life and choose accordingly. We were lucky and she is fine other than her bruised face and horrific black eye. It could've been much worse.

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Learn more about Valorie Delp

Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line.

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