Small house dilemna

[Anonymous]

We have 4 members in our family and a 3 BR, 1.5 BA house, which we had thought was a reasonable purchase given the size of our family and our income. As our kids are getting older, they are starting to compare their small home with the 2000 sq ft + or 1 million+ houses of their neighbors and friends. They feel sort of bewildered and sad about why their home is so much smaller. I also think they are embarrassed when kids come over for play dates.

Most days I tell myself that they will get over it, but there are other days when I empathize with them and understand that their feelings are reasonable given where we live (Montgomery County). How important do you think it is it to have a spacious home?

[Anonymous]

Meh... many of us live in small houses. We could move but more house to clean and care for and we are not interested.

[Anonymous]

I think it'll help there character and make them better people in the long run. Also, your modeling responsible behavior by living in a house you can afford and not taking on debt to live in a unnecessarily large house.

[Anonymous]

Show them pictures of favelas and tell them to STFU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it'll help there character and make them better people in the long run. Also, your modeling responsible behavior by living in a house you can afford and not taking on debt to live in a unnecessarily large house.

their* you're*


It's been a long day.

[Anonymous]

What is your square footage? Tell them that There will always be kids who have less or more then yours do.

[Anonymous]

I live in a one bedroom apartment with my daughter. We do not have a dishwasher or bathtub. Your house seems like a mansion to us. Your kids are welcome to come over to my house to see what a "small home" truly looks like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have 4 members in our family and a 3 BR, 1.5 BA house, which we had thought was a reasonable purchase given the size of our family and our income. As our kids are getting older, they are starting to compare their small home with the 2000 sq ft + or 1 million+ houses of their neighbors and friends. They feel sort of bewildered and sad about why their home is so much smaller. I also think they are embarrassed when kids come over for play dates.

Most days I tell myself that they will get over it, but there are other days when I empathize with them and understand that their feelings are reasonable given where we live (Montgomery County). How important do you think it is it to have a spacious home?

Well we are in a 1,000 square foot condo in Fairfax county. It's dh, me, ds and a small dog. Ds has his own room and our condo has two bathrooms. I honestly love living in a small house. We lived in a bigger place before moving into this place and we just accumulated too much stuff and cleaning it was more work. We don't have a lot of stuff, so we are not cramped at all in this place, so that definitely helps me appreciate it being small.

But I totally get what you are saying. My ds is best friends with a kid who lives in a two million dollar home. Most of his friends live in large single family homes. He will ask me when we are going to get a "real house" lol. I just tell him our house is a very real house and that we aren't moving anytime soon. He definitely isn't embarassed to have friends over, and his friends don't seem to care that we live in a smaller place than they do. They love coming over and ds loves having friends over. I try to point out what I like about our house and I encourage him to make his room into a place he enjoys and appreciates.

[Anonymous]

Ok. Another point of view here. We have a large house (4500 Sq feet). Nonetheless, my kids see even larger houses and make comparisons.

[Anonymous]

Eh. DD doesn't feel so bad when she is parasailing in the Keys.

Experiences over material things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh. DD doesn't feel so bad when she is parasailing in the Keys.

Experiences over material things.

23:16 here- EXACTLY!

[Anonymous]

I hear what you are saying OP.

But housing is so expensive. If we had more mortgage to pay we'd have less fun. I like the idea of a bit more space (4 people in 1,500sf and small MoCo lot but we are staying put)

So many of our friends get a leg up. When my kids ask sometimes I say "they have that house because they won the lottery I think" ha!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh. DD doesn't feel so bad when she is parasailing in the Keys.

Experiences over material things.

We are 4 people in a 3-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom, 1,400 square foot house in Montgomery County, and we also don't go parasailing in the Keys. My children are upper elementary/middle school age, and they are not bewildered and sad when they see their friends' bigger houses, because they know why we live where we live:

1. because that's what we can afford.
2. because we don't need anything bigger.

Maybe talk to your children about that? Especially #1.

[Anonymous]

We're two adults and two teens in two bedrooms with 1 1/4 baths. We're fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your square footage? Tell them that There will always be kids who have less or more then yours do.

+1. It doesn't matter. Our house is about 3200 sq ft. My children see the huge mega houses around us and also the condos. DD asked the other day if we could move to one of those "castles." There will always be bigger and smaller homes.