How to fit as many children as possible into a bedroom

[Dinger]

I looked at the pictures and the shelf above the cot made me squirm. I couldn't read all of it because her writing style really annoyed me *ohffsake*

[FeministShrew]

I only have 2 kids, & I took the smallest bedroom, which is the "back room". If you're from the south you know the one I'm talking about! It's the small room off the kitchen in my 85 year old house, and had a bathroom addition tacked on in the '50's. That's the only bathroom, so I took that bedroom so I'd be the one who wakes up at night whenever anyone needs to go.

My oldest is in college, & when they move out permanently I'll take that room.

I've had people tell me I should have the biggest bedroom, and put one of the kids in the dining room or living room. Yeah, an open room with no doors makes a great bedroom for a teenager! Having a small room with constant bathroom traffic hasn't killed me yet.

I think fundies want the "prestige" of having a crapload of arrows in the quiver, but don't want to inconvenience themselves.

[precious_one]

If the kids are sick they can choose to sleep on the bathroom floor with a blanket. :angry-banghead: My animals have better accommodations than that. It has been many years since I had sick little ones but when they were throwing up I always took them to the living room where I could sit with them. They would lay on the couch with a garbage can. I wanted them to be comfortable. So what if they missed the garbage can or didn't make it to the bathroom? I would just get my husband to clean it up. Puke is/was the only thing I cannot clean up. I will take a diarrhea diaper any day.

[sparkles]

I definitely get the feeling with a lot of these fundie families that the more children you have and the less you're able to provide for them, the more godly you are. They wear their hardships like a badge of honor.

There's nothing wrong with sharing a room, two or even three is just fine. But when every square inch of space is crammed to the rafters and one child doesn't even have the "luxury" of sitting on her bed without having to pull it out from underneath another (which effectively makes it impossible for those in the bunk beds to get out without stepping on their sister), then something's just not right.

The shelf above the cribs doesn't surprise me at all. The idea of babyproofing is laughable to these families. What? Cover the electrical outlets because baby is crawling around? Remove a shelf from over a crib because baby might pull it down and injure herself? All that means is that you have a spoiled, willful and disobedient child who is forcing her weak parents to bend to her own selfish needs. No, godly parents must train the child up properly by beating her natural curiosity out of her. Why teach when you can inflict fear and pain to get your point across? I have no doubt that some of these parents deliberately put their kids in harm's way purely to tempt them so they can suffer the "consequences." *glower*

[HoneyBunny]

That lady is waaaaayyyyy too proud of herself and her organization skills. Can anyone say "idol"?

And how can anyone homeschooling with 9 kids spend so much time blogging?

[Loveday]

That lady is waaaaayyyyy too proud of herself and her organization skills. Can anyone say "idol"?

And how can anyone homeschooling with 9 kids spend so much time blogging?

This. She's not just an average blogger, either. Her posts go on for days, they're so long. She could blog for England. It's a major time commitment just to read one blog entry. How she can do this and everything else is a mystery to me.

Unless her two oldest daughters are now taking over a lot of the daily work, which wouldn't surprise me in the least. :?

[KBepote]

This. She's not just an average blogger, either. Her posts go on for days, they're so long. She could blog for England. It's a major time commitment just to read one blog entry. How she can do this and everything else is a mystery to me.

Unless her two oldest daughters are now taking over a lot of the daily work, which wouldn't surprise me in the least. :?

Given that the eldest daughter had to get up at 5am (or was it 5:30?) every morning when the twins were babies to help MommyWinkest with their feedings, I'm sure they do a great deal of the work.

[Loveday]

Given that the eldest daughter had to get up at 5am (or was it 5:30?) every morning when the twins were babies to help MommyWinkest with their feedings, I'm sure they do a great deal of the work.

:? :angry-banghead:

[Black Aliss]

Or should that be *snip*?

Also the bunk bed in front of the window in the boys room doesnt seem like such a good idea, it blocks out the light

Never mind the light. That's an egress window. If there's a fire in the hallway outside the bedroom door there is no escape for those kids.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

I was really sickened to read her babies were trained to sleep through the night BY three months of age. And that even as newborns they got four scheduled feedings per day (none at night). And then she repeatedly criticizes those who feed on demand because we allow our babies to snack instead of eat real meals. Knowing how tiny their stomachs are and how often they truly need to nurse/feed, this really depressed me last night. Four feeds a day, scheduled cuddling times because babies are manipulative and will want more, no crying allowed, left alone all night. That's disgusting.

[anachronistic]

Four feeds a day? For a *newborn*? That's ridiculous!! The 7 month old I nanny for has trouble sometimes going for 2 hours between feedings. Babies get hungry! They have teeny tiny stomachs. Oh, those poor hungry babies........

[August]

Took me a minute to work that one out. *laugh* (what is UP with all that *gigglesmilechuckle* crap? )

She mentions 'Biblical' spanking in a reply to someone's question about consequences. :?

Biblical spanking is with rocks. It's laid out in Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 21:18-21

18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:

19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;

20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

[IceTwinkie]

I dislike this woman a lot based wholly on her writing style--and I always wonder why you have so many "on purpose kids" that you seem to not quite be able to afford,seem not to want to be around and in fact seem to lump into a collective group. And the smirky *grin* *mock* *drool* comments are horrible. Mostly, it sounds like she likes to lock them all in at night so they will leave her and her husband the hell along and if they are sick, not her problem, because if they are not in their room they might get in the way of her or her husband, and as they get older, they must stay in with the little kids because, well, less privacy means they are less likely to masturbate *snicker*.

Totally agree, it is very annoying. It's as if she is writing a sitcom...insert laugh track here...hold up applause sign there....to ensure that she gets the reactions she wants.

[docmom]

If the kids are sick they can choose to sleep on the bathroom floor with a blanket. :angry-banghead: My animals have better accommodations than that. It has been many years since I had sick little ones but when they were throwing up I always took them to the living room where I could sit with them. They would lay on the couch with a garbage can. I wanted them to be comfortable. So what if they missed the garbage can or didn't make it to the bathroom? I would just get my husband to clean it up. Puke is/was the only thing I cannot clean up. I will take a diarrhea diaper any day.

Oh for the love of... This is horrible! My enduring childhood memories are of being sick and lying on the living room sofa with my basin and my mother holding my hand and rubbing my back. Can you imagine being a sick 5 year old and being told to go lie on the bathroom floor with a blanket? I hope she goes and lies on the bathroom floor with a blanket when she's ill.

[formergothardite]

Let me guess, she claims children are a blessing. She sure as hell doesn't treat them like blessings more like burdens she hates.

[pirouette]

They have a fourth bedroom that is a school room. If I was crazy enough to have that many kids then I think I would partly finish the garage for the older girls with study space for them in their rooms. Keep the three younger girls in one room. And split the boys into the remaining two bedrooms. If you look at her whole house tour then you can see the girls room with two sets of bunks.

They already finished their garage; something like 1/2 is a mud room/storage space, 1/4 is a space for the treadmill, and 1/4 is their "family closet." Their house is absolutely tiny (I know there are pictures of the whole thing on their blog.) While their garage makeover was fairly innovative, it's definitely a sign that they need to consider MOVING. Now that the LIAS family moved and reduced their house's occupancy by one (moved out/got married), this family has the most ridiculous bed situation of any fundie family I follow.

[CanticleoftheTurning]

Ack. I went to take a look at the pictures, and it seems the website is down. Do you think it's a server overload, or did they take down their whole blog?

[Wolfie]

Never mind the light. That's an egress window. If there's a fire in the hallway outside the bedroom door there is no escape for those kids.

Not to mention if they do as kids do and manage to fall off the bed on the window side too.

[Marianne]

This kind of post make me crazy.

When I have not lived with my parents (I don't now if this sentence is clair), I have living in community: foster families (It's family that receive 1, 2, 3, children of the state in exchange for money. I don't know the term in English. It is not the families who adopt just hosting. It exist in America ?), internship, foster care (home state)

You become crazy to always be with people, you can't never cry, you can't never read quietly, you can't practice your instrument ... School was my refuge. But my "family" (the french state) havn't choice. They have a choice. They voluntarily impose this suffering to their children. It's making me crazy / desperate to know how their children will grow up ...

[Cannelle]

Those bedrooms look like submarines. I've been on a submarine. And just looking at the bedrooms made me feel claustrophobic.

[chaotic life]

Hm, have to wonder if she pulled her blog all of the sudden. She's so proud of her behaviors, I cannot imagine she pulled it.

I know so many fundie families who espouse how healthy it is to pack in like sardines. However, the reality is that EVERYTHING is better when you make enough room to breath. Last house, I converted the laundry room into a bedroom *for us* because I needed five bedrooms for the kids and I still wanted a playroom where they could keep their toys out of my living room. I had enough room for my bed, the baby's crib and a bedside table and rocking chair. BUT, my kids had enough space. We only use 7 of our 8 bedrooms now, but only two rooms have two kids in them. The rest of the kids have been able to have their own space. Before we moved, I was looking for a foot locker for my teen so he could padlock his personal stuff away from little ones who kept entering his room. So SAD to ask teenagers to have nothing but a small plastic tote for all personal posessions. It's dishonoring to children to demand they have nothing personal and the belongs to them and they are allowed to keep private.

[Queen Of Hearts]

Don't worry, her blog is still up (it is one of the few I follow regularly - now and then she has good tips and the rest of the time I can snark). Be sure to use the www as some web browsers won't open her page without it.

[Guest]

If the kids are sick they can choose to sleep on the bathroom floor with a blanket. :angry-banghead: My animals have better accommodations than that. It has been many years since I had sick little ones but when they were throwing up I always took them to the living room where I could sit with them. They would lay on the couch with a garbage can. I wanted them to be comfortable. So what if they missed the garbage can or didn't make it to the bathroom? I would just get my husband to clean it up. Puke is/was the only thing I cannot clean up. I will take a diarrhea diaper any day.

Really?? I guess I've never thought about it, but that's what I always used to do when I was sick as a child, and still do today. My mom would bring a pillow in and cover it with a towel and then put a blanket over us during those long nights with the flu. I never minded it, especially because it feels SO good to lay on the cold tile when you are sick. I don't think I ever spent the whole night on the bathroom floor though, just until I felt like I could walk again and was done throwing up.

[alba]

Personally I'd have finished the two-car garage into a bedroom or two, not a clothes closet. I was going to ask where the older girls do their homework, then figured the family probably homeschools. Still, are they doing their schoolwork with toddlers running underfoot? There's no privacy, no escape from the sheer noise of a big family.

Quoting myself because I realise I was wrong: the 14-year-old doesn't need somewhere to do her schoolwork because she doesn't *do* any school work. Check out her schedule: largefamiliesonpurpose.com/2012/10/fall-schedule-2012.html

[Bizziebody]

I have followed this blog for a while *smile*. I do find some of her organizing tips good *laughs*. But all the *winks, smiles and laughs* are incredibly annoying. I think the reason I actually read it is I find her lifestyle completely mind boggling.

The children lives are regimented like little soldiers. She has schedules and reasons behind everything including showering! I cannot imagine living in such a way with such military precision. There is no spontaneity. Those poor children barely leave the house even to play as their yard has a drainage problem and is often wet. The older girls do all the washing, and most of the food prep and cooking. As the above poster said the 14yo barely does school work as she is often finished by 9am and mentors the little ones. She must only do an hour or two hours a day! The bedrooms both are downstairs away from the master and the children are squashed in like sardines with one poor girl stuck on the floor. All I can think is poor kids that is no way to live. No excitement and daily routines. Being a child is about having free time to play creatively and explore with limits and a flexible routine that allows incidental learning. She mentions that the babies spend a lot of time strapped to high chairs, in portacots or on a towel. I guess it's a form of blanket training. I hope those children get the chance to enjoy themselves sometimes.

Edited for spelling