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Parenting
Poll: Would you not have more children if you thought your house was "too small"?
... and I put "too small" in quotation marks because that's a matter of perspective, I think. 
I was just reading a previous post about not being able to upgrade to more space and thus holding off on more kids, and I thought, "no way I'd ever let real estate keep me from having another kid if I wanted one." We're in a small 3-br (about 1350 sq. feet), and the girls share a room- it's def. tight, but I never considered waiting 'til we were somewhere bigger before having Sylvie... I was ready, so we just did it, and made the necessary adjustments at home. Am I in the minority here? Just curious.
Either way, it sucks that the economy is affecting EVERY aspect of people's lives these days.
A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. ~Marion C. Garrett
A ~ 2.7.06
S ~ 9.2.07
A ~ 2.7.06
S ~ 9.2.07This discussion has been closed.
Re: Poll: Would you not have more children if you thought your house was "too small"?
that was my post and I don't want another child if we are going to be tripping all over each other and over-run with toys and swings and jumperoos, etc, etc.?
to each his / her own, I guess.
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No way. The only 2 things that would prevent me from trying for more kids if we wanted them would be:
If I really wanted more children, I'd have them. ?Babies don't take up that much room and you can always upgrade later. ?
But if the house was already crowded, I can understand waiting. ?
My house is 1000 sq ft, small in most people's book. We have 3 small bedrooms. Originally we were going to wait for #3 untill we moved into a bigger home, but we live in Michigan and may have to wait forever. So we decided to go for it, we'll find room somewhere.
I keep reminding myself, my grandma raised 4 kids in a house with 2 bedrooms, about the size of ours. And I just can't see letting house size determine my family.
We are waiting until we buy a house because we currently rent. ? Different, but alike at the same time. ?
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And, to each their own. ?Minnas knows how big her house is and how much baby stuff in can or can't hold. ??
didn't stop us....our house is exactly like yours....1350...3 bed. We manage fine. it will become difficult when the girls are older. I currently refuse to share a bathroom with DH so he has the master bathroom, and I use the main bathroom...so when teh girls need more bathroom time, I really hope we are in a new house!!! hahaha.
I think its a matter of perspective....some people think 1350 square feet is small and couldn't handle more than one child in it...some people think 2000 square feet is small and couldn't handle more than one child in it. I mean think about our grandparents....my grandparents had 12 children in a 3 bedroom farm house. There was the master bedroom, a boy bedroom and a girl bedroom. They managed just fine.
We live in a 2 bdrm townhouse right now. We have a two year old and another one on the way. Needless to say things are going to be pretty tight but we didn't want there to be a huge age gap between the children and we aren't really in the market to buy a house right now. We'll just have the baby in our room until they can share a bedroom. We hope to buy within the next couple of years. We're new to the area we just moved to so renting seemed more logical then buying since we're not really familiar with the schools or the city in general and don't want to be stuck in some house in a city we hate. I'm already stressing about where I'm going to put the baby's stuff and DD's toys downstairs since that's where we spend most of our time. Oh well! I'm sure it'll be fine!
Our baby Girl Lillian Mary-Ellen born 5-19-10 at 12:59pm weighing 8lbs 4oz 19in!
Baby #3 on it's way due March 15th, 2012!
I don't know. Currently we have a 3BR house that is around 2000 sq ft. I think it'd be fine w/ another child, except we'd have no guest room for my parents who come visit quite a bit. So our plan had always been to have quite a bit of space between Jackson and #2 so that we were ready to upgrade soon after having #2.
Now, as it stands, we're moving and planning on building. We'll probably either rent a small 3 BR house while we build or have an apartment. We will not have #2 until we have a timeline on when our house will be finished.
It'd probably not be the only reason (moving with a newborn/being pregnant and a few other things come to mind), but my idea of hell is me, a newborn and my toddler in a teeny apartment.
As long as I had a roof over our heads, clothes to wear, a bed to sleep in and food to eat, I wouldn't let the size of the house stop me from having another child. (Within reason--I wouldn't have 6 kids in a 800 sq ft house, with 4 kids sleeping in the same bed!). I actually have a different opinion than most people. I think there is some value to having a small house. And I only say that because I have a 3000 sq ft house and have seen the down side. I grew up as the youngest of 2 kids in a 1200 square foot house. My sister and I shared a room until the day we moved away to college. All 4 of us shared one small bathroom. We had 1 phone, mounted to the kitchen wall and 1 tv (my parents had their own in their room, but it wasn't for use by the kids). We all got along because we had to. We were very close and learned some great negotiating skills and patience. It was not the worst way to grow up. We talked to each other all the time and my parents knew everything going on in my life.
These days, with houses so big, it is easy for families to be in the same house and hardly even see each other. I know DH can get busy in the basement while I am upstairs and we can spend a whole evening without crossing paths. I think there is something to be said for sharing close quarters, especially while kids are young!
We're in a 2100 sq ft 3-br house. I think we have room for at least 4 kids. We could really even put 3 kids in one room with bunk beds and a loft because we just have large bedrooms. I've heard some on the boards say that they wouldn't have a third child unless they had a 4th bedroom or unless they had a 3k sq ft house or something. Like you said, space is just a matter of perspective. I don't think I would let space stop me from having another child. Maybe I would if we were living in a 600 sq ft loft, but not in a 3-br home.
Charlotte Ella 07.16.10
Emmeline Grace 03.27.13
We have a 2000 square foot house and I think *if* we decide to have a 3rd I think we would wait until we have a different house. I LOVE my house so it would be hard to give up, but I would like to have a different layout rather than more square footage (an eat in kitchen would be awesome and a bigger family room). We are in So Cal so we already have a tiny backyard and no basement, so there is no where to expand. I would probably just move down the street since I LOVE my neighborhood.
I think I would want to wait, but if I didn't have the willpower to wait, I'd probably go ahead and rationalize being able to manage.
On the other hand, I have a couple of friends who got pregnant first and then tried to sell/move while pregnant and it was a disaster. Both times the baby came before the house was sold and they had to live in their too small space with a newborn. One of the friends ended up selling and moving when her baby was 2 months old (nightmare!) and the other is now dealing with having a one month old, a crabby 2 year old and a house that is on the market and open to realtors pretty much any time. I think I'd rather get the new house first, and then try for #2 in that situation..if the move was imminent.