Anonymous wrote:Be sure that the adults are on the same page. I have a cousin who obsessed over her five year old getting to sleep on time. (And, it was a really, really early time!) She absolutely could not relax until he was asleep.

This. And if you are parents whose kids have early bedtimes, be prepared for the judgement and push back. My 5 year needs 12 hours of sleep a night (ever since she stopped napping) and she's not going to sleep in with all the other kids around so she has to go to bed early.

If she is an exhausted cranky mess because she doesn't get enough sleep, who is going to deal with that? Oh yeah, ME. I'd like to have a nice vacation to, so I'll be making sure my kid gets enough sleep, and I would never put her in a "kids room" at this age.

Just get a bigger house.

Re: rooms for sleeping - - - there is no way the 3 1/2 year old isn't going to want to be with the "big kids". I'd say they all go to bed at the same time but after an hour, whoever is disruptive, they have to sleep in the same room with their own Mom & Dad, whomever that is ~ besides sleeping bags, the new air beds are pretty comfortable.

All great advice -- you might ask the kids what they want too, w/ the caveat that you won't share w the other kids their thoughts. I have a similar situation - 3 cousins from two different families and my then 5 y/o were to share a room, and my 5 y/o confided he didn't want to sleep w the other kids. Surprised me, but he's an old soul who said in a new place, he wanted to be with his parents.

Thanks for the thoughts and advice, PPs. I'm going to email the group right now with some thoughts and caveats. We'll probably wind up going with just one kids' room, but definitely have some things to think through. And we'll bring sleeping bags!

Be sure that the adults are on the same page. I have a cousin who obsessed over her five year old getting to sleep on time. (And, it was a really, really early time!) She absolutely could not relax until he was asleep.

I have a 5.5 year old who could never do this. She would be way too disruptive, AND she needs more sleep than kids a couple of years older.

When we travel with other families, its 2 bedrooms/1 bathroom (minimum) per family.

5 and younger didn't always work in a multi room situation. So we had a sleeping bag/air mattress for the parent's room. I have also found as the week wore on that the older kids needed some breaks from the "group room" since they were spending all of their time together so plan for breaks from the group or a night or two with the older ones being broken up. It depends on the group and their dynamics - but having flexibility is key. For us with a family of 4 we now like 2 bedroom rooms (one for adults and one for the kids).