subject: Is Your Family Growing But Your House Not [print this page] Is Your Family Growing But Your House Not
Growing up being the youngest of 5 children made for many interesting and learning experiences. After my coming into the world, the numbers of family members remained the same, but the size continued to increase.
We all lived in a 2 bedroom 1 bath home, a family of 7. By the time I was 3, the sleeping arrangements had become much crowed. My parents slept in one bedroom, and I slept in there too. Still in a crib, that had become quite close quarters. In the other bedroom all three girls slept in one double bed, and my brother in a twin bed against the far wall.
Father a very resourceful person and a jack of all trades, had a plan. Starting in the middle of the room he built triple bunk beds, with an enclosed back. Now each girl had a bunk bed to call their own. These bunk beds faced the closet and made for a place to put a door leading into the other half of the room. Against the far wall my father then constructed two more twin bunk beds. The bottom one was constructed about 4 1/2' from the floor. This one was mine, and my brother took the top one. Now my brother and I had bunk beds of our own and a closet underneath the bottom bunk bed. That left room at the bottom end of the beds for each of us to have a small desk. The crowed sleeping arrangements had been solved. We all had a place of our own with shared closets and room to study.
Dad just missed one small detail. I was only three years old and was use to sleeping in an enclosed structure. The first night in my new bed I came crashing to the floor. The second night my mother rolled a quilt up and placed against the outer edge of the bed. This seemed to work fine for about a month. Then one restless night I managed to push the quilt out of the bed and promptly follow it to the floor. Now father was in a heap of trouble here. My mother was not going to put up with having her youngest smash into the floor repeatedly. That next morning, dad set to the task of making a permanent solution to the problem. He took a long piece of round wood closet clothes rod and bolted it across the front of my bunk bed. With out even knowing it my father pioneered that which makes bunk beds safe today.
