Just Bunk

Well, it took 5 years but I finally gave in -- to bunkbeds that is. You'd think with 5 nodlings and only 3 kids bedrooms that would have been a no-brainer. But I had my reasons -- still do, after a fashion.

The first objection was that a bunkbed would take up too much space. What? You backwards fellow! Bunkbeds save space, that's why you get them. Ah, but I was talking vertical space -- our house only has 7 and a half foot ceilings; some genius thought that they could save money when they designed our model by only making the ceilings 7.5 instead of the standard 8 feet.

Maybe they thought it would make the house cozy; the only thing it made it was impossible to buy standard drapes and closet doors. So we had to search far and wide for a low enough bunk bed that wouldn't result in daily concussions. Objection 1: solved.

Next I objected that the first thing kids do with a bunk bed is jump off of it. Turns out I was wrong: the first thing they do is climb up to the top of it -- all of them. I put it together myself, and the manufacturer says it is rated to 250 lbs., but did that mean resting weight or jumping-up-and-down weight? We don't own a scale, so I'm frantically estimating each nodling's weight as they scramble up and down.

The third objection was that the toddlers would climb up the ladder when our back was turned and fall off and hurt themselves. The Big Kids were off at Scouting activities this afternoon while I was home with the Littles (the toddlers). They immediately proved me right as they took one look at this new island of furniture and thought: must climb. They didn't actually get hurt since I was right there watching and removed them, but it's just a function of time -- kids are so lightning fast when you don't want them to do something.

My only solace is that I've fallen off the bunk when I was a kid and nothing got broken. I even had the top bunk fall down on me and escaped unharmed. Sigh. I keep telling myself that everything is going to be ok, that kids won't act just like kids, and that the girls will keep their door closed at all times to keep the Littles out -- but my mind keeps telling me that's just bunk.