How Old Were Your Kids When They Moved to the Basement?

I think the real question here is, once they're moved to the basement, do we have to let them out?

:-D

For me..... NO. Keep them where you can hear them. I think that is true until they move out though. LOL!

Keeping them close by means you can monitor them better and keep them out of trouble. I also worry about things like fires. I, however, am a safety and order gal.

As a five year old I would have HATED sleeping alone in the basement! I had a room down there when I was 9 & 10 and it was CREEPY. No way would I do that to my kids.
I'd keep the older two in a bedroom together and the baby in my room, for at least a year, and then maybe move the older two down together at that time. My oldest two (boy/girl) shared a room from preschool through early elementary school and they had a blast together. Good times :-)

Why not have the 3 & 5 share and put baby in your room?

Personally, I have never cared for isolating children.
Talking to my teen the other day, her fave memory of growing up is the convos she has had with her siblings after "lights out".

In our opinion, it fosters a closeness you can not achieve through separation.

I was 10. My brother was 2 years younger than me. My dad gave both of us the option of moving to the basement. I was the only one who said I'd move. So I got the bedroom.

Moving to the basement is almost akin to moving out of the house, in my opinion. The child has to be mature enough to handle "living by himself"--because basically, he is all by himself downstairs--needs to not be afraid of all the noises the house makes, and able to handle the responsibility of being by himself.

I personally think 5 is a little too young.

Sorry - we didn't buy a home because of the placement of the rooms.

How many bedrooms do you have in the basement?

Personally - I wouldn't put kids under 8 one or two floors below me. What would I do? I would figure out if we can somehow make the two upstairs work out for the family - or look into buying a home that fits your family's needs.

Absolutely not. Way too young.

We don't have basements in homes here, but I really don't think 5 is anywhere near old enough. (Just thinking about if I did have a basement.) Is there a reason you can't have the other two children share a room?

Waaaay too young to be in a basement all alone. I can't help but think of the fire that happened in my neighborhood when I was in elementary school. Lots of the kids died in the basement when there was a fire. Besides you will be way too far away from your child if they want you and are scared.

fire hazard, are there exits, knew a family whose teenage died in a house fire because he was in a basement room. if your two are boys I would find a way to put them together or have the baby in a bassinet in your room for a while. but I don't think iwould go with a basement room unless your arrangement is safe for fires.

I think I would temporarily move ALL of you downstairs. Have the boys continue to share, and put the baby in its own room, and then you and your husband take the 3rd bedroom. When you are ready, you and hubby can move back up to the main floor (or wherever the other bedrooms are). At that point, you can decide who to leave downstairs and who to bring back up. Maybe all the kids will stay down there, maybe just the baby will come up, or maybe the 2 youngest will come up and share, but this way, everyone gets comfortable downstairs, and you are all still together.

I can move my son to the basement? Whoo hooo. But no, I don't think five is old enough to move your son to the basement. Perhaps if you were moving two kids who shared a room, but otherwise, no. 5-6 is also a big age for nightmares - I would consider the distance you or he will need to go when he has one. Also the scariness of the basement stairs after waking from a nightmare.

Our son is almost 15 and his room is right next to ours.
He has an option to move to a bigger bedroom on the other side of the house but he won't do it.
His temperament is such that he'd never want to be all alone in a separate part of the house.
But other kids are different.

I double up, they're young it should be ok. We have 1 bedroom in basement and its off limits until kids are teens say over 14 or so, and also we have to install an egress window first so there's 2 exits

If I moved the kids to the basement I would be moving with them. I'd not put kids this young down there are all. If they got sick you couldn't hear them plus if someone broke in you'd not know until morning.

I would put them down there when they are older, like maybe 10-12.

I don't think I would put a child down the basement until age 13 or so. I also would want to at least have a powder room down there so they do not have to make a trip up and down stairs to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I also would on only do it if I an egress window and fire alarms.

That would creep me out. Maybe it is because we don't have basements here and I only know basements from scary movies.

We also have only two bedrooms upstairs and my boys share, but the 11 year old would like to move downstairs soon. I'm in no hurry to give up that spare room.

Whether ready to sleep in the basement or not depends on the child. I had a bedroom in the basement when I was five and I had no problem. We had a bathroom in the basement, and I wasn't afraid of being alone or anything like that. I actually liked it. I have a 40 year old friend who couldn't have her laundry room in the basement because she was freaked out by basements. Does your child play in the basement? Sleep through the night? Have nightmares? Wake up and seek comfort from you? Is there a washroom he can easily get to? What is the configuration of your house? How far is the basement from your room? Can you hear if your child calls you from the basement?

Our basement is quite a good basement for a child's room. In fact, it was a children's group home before we owned it. Our home is a bi-level, and the lower level has lots of big, bright windows, fire exits, a bathroom, and the lower level is very open to the upper level. I can hear the downstairs bedrooms from the upstairs bedrooms no problem.

I think the age that is old enough is the age when it's requested, usually around 13 or 14. 5 is too young. I think figuring out how the room will be shared by the 2 and 5 yo, and keeping the baby in your room, would be better. And set the room up for all 3 so when the baby gets older, s/he can go in too.

It will probably be tight, but the 5 yo would probably be scared in the basement but thrilled with a top bunk (with a rail). You only need to figure out how to sleep 3 and store clothes. If you have a den and a living room, one of those could be for toys.

I am assuming by two rooms, you mean one for you and one other. Good luck.

18 but we have a four bedroom home. Him moving down there was a function of being sick of having his little brother as a roommate. If I had needed the room earlier it would have been much younger.

What age would depend on your basement. I have a walkout and full windows so as soon as they are old enough to not need me all night they could go to a bedroom downstairs. If there is no escape route for fires and emergencies I would say 10 or 12.

You could get an extra baby monitor for the basement, so he would never be out of hearing range

We have 2 bedrooms on the main floor and 2 bedrooms in the basement. We have all slept on the main floor for years. My kids are 11, 8, and 5. I am sure that their days of all three sleeping in a room are soon going to end, but it has been fine for 8 years. We will probably move my oldest to the basement when he wants, but I think it will be soon, like 12-13?

I'm really surprised how many moms don't think it's safe for kids to be in the basement! I was in the same situation that you are in a couple of years ago. We built our house to have only two bedrooms on the main floor but four downstairs so the kids could be down there, and a nursery, later to be a guest bedroom, could be on the main floor with the master. We moved our two kids downstairs when they were almost 4 and 6 and we had the baby in our room for a year, but we would have moved them down when they were 3 and 5 if our basement were finished. I did not like having the baby in our room for a year. At all. I can't sleep with the baby next to me because I hear every little noise and wake up to it. If our kids need us we can hear them just fine, and their bedrooms are just a quick trip down the stairs away. They love being down there and have never felt scared. Our basement is nice and doesn't feel any different than the rest of the house with high ceilings, a large wrap around stairway going down, and completely finished. And just as fire safe as the rest of the house. We've rehearsed how to get out in case of a fire and they know the drill. I think a lot of the moms here haven't experienced what a nice basement feels like...it's not a cellar. I would put them downstairs at 3 and 5 if our basement were finished just because our basement doesn't feel like it's a separate part of the house. Good luck with the new baby!

If there are 3 bedrooms in the basement and only 2 upstairs, I would consider moving all of the used bedrooms to the basement. No way would I put any of my kids in the basement yet - mine are 6, 8, and 10. Our basement is also nice and finished, only one bedroom, a large rec room, and a bathroom that we will finish once we decide to put someone down there.