?? for those w/ two-story homes...

GirlsRock10

Ladies, I need some insight for those of you who live in a two-story home. We are moving and I found a place I love, but it is two stories (bedrooms upstairs and everything else down). Is it unsafe with toddlers? Is it too much of a headache with the ups and downs with two kids??? My husband thinks I'm crazy..

I would love to hear what your experiences are. TIA!!

Nina

Temp6313048411121614

I love 2 stories.  How does he think it'll be unsafe or a headache?  We've never had an issue.

jennyfur211

I have a two story house, too, and no problems here.  We keep a gate at the bottom of the stairs so the kids can't go upstairs.

blondek8

We live in a 2-story house. Okay, so my kids don't walk or move (other than roll) but it'll be fine. I lived in a 2-story house when I was a kid. I came out unscathed.

GirlsRock10

DH just thinks it will be a nuisance making sure the gates are always closed and me carrying the girls one by one up or down stairs until they are ready to learn how to on their own (they are still learning how to walk). Obviously people everywhere have stairs and you ladies don't seem to mind them...so I think I shall do some persuading.

Thanks for your input!

Rangergal9

jennyfur211:

I have a two story house, too, and no problems here.  We keep a gate at the bottom of the stairs so the kids can't go upstairs.

This.  Older DD hasn't caught on that the gate is for her and thinks its to keep the dog downstairs...lol.  We also have a gate at the top of the stairs.   

finallyreilly

We have a two story - all bedrooms upstairs and everything, including the bathroom is downstairs.  We don't worry about them going up and down the stairs on their own at the moment because they are too young.  We have been working with them learning to go up and down as soon as they learned to crawl.  It is a big game at night who can race up the stairs the fastest.  We have a baby gate at the top of the stairs so that if they are able to get their door open we don't have to worry about them falling down the stairs.

 People ask me how I got in to shape so quickly after the twins and I tell them that I do the stairs all day long.  It is a little more effort, but it saves me lots of money from going to the gym:)

meagamomma2be

We have a gate at the top and bottom of the stairs, but I let my 2 year old go up and down by herself.  She does fine on the stairs.  Sure it's a pain to carry 2 babies up and down the stairs, but it's not a huge deal.  If you love it, I say go for it!

pea-kay

It will be fine. We live in a house where the living room and bedrooms are upstairs, and the kitchen/dining room is downstairs. So we spend a LOT of time going up and downstairs. I think if we lived in a traditional house, it would be much easier. 

SoldiersGreenBean

We have a 2 story house, and only keep a gate at the top of the stairs.  DD1 has only fallen down them twice, and both times she was over 2.5yo.  She was being silly both times.

benkari

We have a 2 story with the bedrooms up stairs.  Before they could go up and down on their own I would carry them two at a time and never had an issue.  My only advice would be to get a fire ladder in case the stairway is ever blocked in a fire.

shipoopiisforme

we actually live on all 4 stories of our home. laundry in the basement and the kids play room is on the 3rd floor. that set up is very common in our area and while it can be challenging carrying 2 babies up and down from the 1st to the 3rd floor i wouldn't trade our finished attic for anything. we joke a lot that our next house is going to be a ranch but in our area it's difficult to find the square footage we would want in a 1 story home.

mine aren't toddlers yet but i don't find it unsafe, we have gates at the tops of the stairs and they are never left unsuprivised.

OrangeSmoke

90% of houses in this area are two stories if not more.

Lots of kids have survived.  My DH even fell down the stairs carrying the babies once, and they are JUST FINE!

PianoPlayingSarah

The majority of houses around here are 2 stories.  It is a PITA sometimes but you get used to it.

Our issue now is that the girls keep going up there during the day to get their "animals" from their rooms.  We keep 99% of their toys downstairs but a lot of their stuffed animals are in their rooms.  MH took the gate off of the bottom of the stairs.  We have the one at the top but I don't like to lock it during the day b/c I'm afraid someone will fall down the stairs trying to get the gate open.   

 

jbl126

Ours is two stories and we never had issues.  We used to keep the stairs gated but now they are pretty good about the steps.  And before they were able to go up themselves, I would either carry both or one at a time.  Now they can go up and down themselves and sometimes still like to be carried.  As long as you have a gate when needed, you will be fine.

RedWingsFan

jennyfur211:

I have a two story house, too, and no problems here.  We keep a gate at the bottom of the stairs so the kids can't go upstairs.

This.

We'll eventually put a gate at the top of the stairs when they're walking and want to play up there, but we haven't had any issues yet.

dulcinea03

I'll echo everyone else. I'm up and down the stairs of our 2 floor house many times a day with the girls. It really isn't a problem, they've learned that when I leave one at the base of the stairs (with the gate shut) I'll be back in 5 seconds for them. We gate the top and bottom of our staircase with the gates with swinging doors, and it really isn't an issue. Shutting the gate behind us is such a habit now that I've caught myself doing it at night after the girls are in bed.