AZmom wrote:
We have a 2.5 year old, are new to RV'ing and cannot decide which floor plan would be better for our family: 1) bigger rear living/entertaining space or 2) a separate bunkhouse for our daughter. Hoping families with older children and more experience can help us make the best choice for our small family.
We currently own a 2012 Winnebago One "30RE" and love it. The floor plan is a very open living room with lots of windows and space. The problem is sleeping; my 2 year old will fall asleep in our bed at 730 while we're still up but we have not been able to successfully transfer her to the living room to sleep on the fold out bed once we're ready to go to bed. She'll cry her way back to me (loudly), leaving my husband to sleep on the twin alone.
Recently we began considering a bunkhouse (BH) option, the 2015 Dutchmen KODIAK 300BHSL. The bunk house is a totally separate kid's room with 3 beds, a table and lots of storage. Our theory is that a separate room will help keep her fall/stay asleep in her own bed, giving us the living space back and preventing her from crawling in to bed with us (she usually sleeps through the night in her own bed at home).
If we are in the TT during the day (say it's raining) I would rather we all be in one living space and the Winnebago is more conducive to that with its more open floor plan than the compartmentalized bunkhouse floor plan. I worry that with our daughter being an only child she'll feel isolated in the BH. Or that we'll be more squished in the smaller living space. My husband thinks this won't be an issue. That she'll like having her own space. Also I think the extra beds are a waste - I don't plan on bringing her friends along until she is much older nor would I want to have another family stay in our small TT; maybe one grandparent.
Also we got a great deal on the Winnebago so we would be out of pocket more money whether we trade or sell ours privately.
The nicest thing about the bunkhouse is that there is also an outdoor kitchen which pretty much rocks. But I don't know that this alone is worth the amount of money we'll spend should we get a different TT.
Any ideas or suggestions to help us make this decision? Thank you in advance!!
Kids now days are totally spoiled.
My parents packed 6 of us kids into the family station wagon armed with a tent and proceeded to vacation for three weeks from PA clear down to the Florida Keys.. I would have been 3 1/2 yrs old at the time and my youngest sister about 2 yrs old..
It didn't kill us or my parents..
That was the first year.. Did it again in the family wagon the next year..
Then Dad bought a pickup truck with a cap on the back and proceeded to make bunks and a table.. We kids road in the back and we ALL slept in the back.. No A/C and went all the way down to Florida again..
Did that two years in a row then Dad bought a second hand slide in.. Made life a bit nicer, we kids road in the slide in (and it didn't kill us, in fact that was the fun thing we looked forward to since it had a nice big window in the front and us kids would lay on the beds and watch the miles go by)..
Did that all through my High school years.
As a parent, you simply sometimes have to not hover over the kids (helicopter parents)... Yes, you might wake them but if you fuss LESS over them they learn how to go back to sleep. Make some noise and they will learn to sleep through noise.. Provide them with a totally "safe" quiet sleeping area and they tend to wake at the least disturbance.
We started camping when my DD was about 3 yrs old, in a 20ft TT armed with only a single bed and a full size bed and separated by nothing more than a curtain.. We all survived..
After a couple of years with the 20ft TT we decided that it would be nice to have a queen size bed and have a separate bedroom instead of a curtain.. So, we found an old TT and reworked it the way we wanted..
If you like your current trailer then why worry so much, next year your kid will be 3, the next year after that 4 and so on.. They will grow and change.. So will their sleeping habits..
