Guestroom situation for family gatherings. What say you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really want an update to this thread from last year

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/60/316143.page

+1 I remember that one, too.

It was updated -- with a mostly happy ending -- read the last page:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/180/316143.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sibling C gets the guest room and sibling B gets the couch (or, like a PP mentioned, pick up an aerobed -- they are only like $50 for a queen size and much more comfortable). Otherwise, sibling with toddler can only visit until the beginning of the bedtime routine (usually like 7pm) when they will have to go back to hotel, which means even having dinner plans is hard -- if they are staying in the guest room, they can simply bathe and put the toddler down and everyone can relax and enjoy each others' company until the adults go to sleep (usually a good 3-4 additional hours).

Really, this. Toddlers go to bed earlier than adults (usually, anyway). So if you want to be able to spend more time together as a family, then the toddler needs to be able to go to bed at your house. I'd get a comfy aerobed and a special treat for the single sibling--stock their favorite drink or snack, make their favorite breakfast, whatever, to say thanks. Also, they get to kick everyone out of the living room when they want to go to bed and no one can gripe or linger.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like having to go back to the hotel to put the toddler to bed is the perfect excuse to escape. Oh wait, no one else has an exhausting family?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don't understand why you don't stay in a hotel. I think all of you who are complaining just like to be martyrs!

Sometimes relatives live in places where there are no hotels. At my parents house, the nearest decent hotel is fifty minutes away. And by decent I mean a crummy days inn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First to RSVP gets the guest room. Single non parents don't always want to be relegated to the couch.

+++++1

OP, I'm not sure where your values are, but I would do first-come first-serve. Hotels don't kick a wealthy traveler out of her presidential suite just because a family comes along and the only room the hotel has left just has one queen bed. First one to claim the room gets it.

[Anonymous]

Tough call. So much depends on the personalities involved. My family would sleep on scraps of carpet just to be together. Husband's family expects creature comforts as guests so they are better off in hotels.

I vote for the "I already promised Joe the guest room" approach. The others can either get a hotel or opt for air mattresses in a corner somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tough call. So much depends on the personalities involved. My family would sleep on scraps of carpet just to be together. Husband's family expects creature comforts as guests so they are better off in hotels.

I vote for the "I already promised Joe the guest room" approach. The others can either get a hotel or opt for air mattresses in a corner somewhere.

Exactly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depending on the age of the kids, they are more sensitive to changes in the sleep routine. My 3 year old is used to sleeping on a bed. I have no idea how he would fare on a couch or the floor.

O
M
G
AND sticking on a couch is killing him....?
Some of you are killing me with that kind of nonsense.

Do you have children?? If he refuses to sleep on the couch and just gets more wound up, that affects everyone else in the house.

Yes, I have kids. And guess what,pp, says SHE HAS NO IDEA HE WOULD DO ON A COUCH!!!
Personally, I prefer the pallet in the floor, call it a camp out adventure, no muss, no fuss.
Some folks really are punks when it comes to their kids.
Having ur kid experience something new, if the situation calls for it, is a great lesson and life.
Sometimes it actually it works.

How exactly does it work to have a toddler sleeping on a couch? Everyone has to leave the living room, turn off the lights, and talk quietly in the kitchen the rest of the night? And again for nap time? This would work fine of the kids were older, but not toddlers who still nap ice or twice a day and need dark and quiet to sleep.

[Anonymous]

Maybe have single sibling and toddler share the bed if they get along, and other sibling + spouse sleep on couches?

That way, the toddler goes to sleep earlier, single sibling gets the privacy of a room (aside from toddler).

But married siblings rotate like considerate adults ought to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the entire reason we don't like to visit my inlaws. They won't tell you where you are sleeping until you get there, nor will they tell you who else is coming. Last time we told them we were not coming unless our family (of 4) was guaranteed the guest room. They said yes, we drove 7 hours only to find they had given the guest room to some friends of theirs. They seemed utterly baffled as to why we were annoyed.

Yuck. How inconsiderate.

Either way, some family houseguests are way worse than friend houseguests. They have all these entitlement expectations and eat you out of house and home using all your stuff!

[Anonymous]

When my family does this (siblings a,b,c,d) family a with one kid stays in a hotel and child a gets a sleepover on grandma's floor. Sibling b and boyfriend get guest room, c and d bunk together for now. Best arrangement ever, as I am sibling A.