How to raise 10 kids in a 2 bedroom home

Motek

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 12:33 pm

mimivan wrote:

a woman who grew up in Mea Shearim in a 2 bedroom home with 10 kids. The girls and boys would sleep in the living room with a "mechitza" down the middle, boys on one side, girls on the other, and the girls would sleep inside duvet covers so they were never exposed!

I've wondered, when reading descriptions of large families living in tiny quarters, how they do it. In a recent article that I read, it described a house in Meah Shearim consisting of a postage stamp sized living room, a miniscule kitchen, one bedroom and a small nook with a couch. 8 children were raised here.

Where does everybody sleep (before boys leave for yeshiva and when they come home for yomtov)? Do they share beds? Where are their belongings stored? What about a washer and dryer? Toys? How does the entire family eat together on weekdays and on Shabbos? Is there room for guests at the table? With children of different ages and so little space, what about bedtimes and lights out? What about privacy? where is homework done? where can parents have a private conversation? one bathroom for all - how do they all bathe? how do they all get ready for school each morning?

queen

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 12:44 pm

we are all living in a very spoiled generation. 75 years ago, jews did not live on the level we currently do. Think back to shtetle life, and the huts they lived in. Never mind no indoor plumbing or heating.

amother

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 12:50 pm

I never lived in meah shearim, but we did have 8 kids in a 2 bedroom apt. and there's only one thing to say - it's very hard! but as with all things, when you have to manage, you just manage. the people take up space, but so does all the "stuff" and there's never enough room so things get stored in unlikely spaces, and someone is always waiting for the bathroom, and you just manage.

a good attitude helps. winning the lottery helps more. Wink

Motek

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 1:57 pm

queen wrote:

Think back to shtetle life, and the huts they lived in. Never mind no indoor plumbing or heating.

I often do and I thank G-d for indoor plumbing.

I also wonder about those stories of entire families living in one room, how the parents were able to have the privacy/tznius halacha requires.

And I don't think they use bunkbeds because that room is the living/dining room and they don't eat their meals in a room surrounded by multiple bunk beds.

shalhevet

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 2:10 pm

red sea wrote:

Motek I just wonder, if there were 2 bedrooms why is it that All the kids slept in the living room?

In Israel saying there are 2 rooms includes the living room. It only excludes the kitchen and bathroom(s). When you describe a house/ apartment here you say how many rooms.

I know families who have children using the living room as a bedroom. Every morning they take all the linen of their beds and store it somewhere so that the room can be used.

southernbubby

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 2:20 pm

Years ago the Jewish Press published an article about families in Brooklyn that lived in extremely crowded conditions. Children slept in the tub and under the table. My DIL grew up (9 girls keneinahora 0 boys) in a 2 bedroom dira in Jerusalem. I saw some kids bedding down on mats under the dining room table. The walls of their home are lined with seforim. The diningroom is long and narrow and has room for guests. A little alcove area that would be a small living room has a bed in it. The apartment that my son, DIL and grandson live in currently is very small. Still, they always invite guests unless they go to her parents and take the 2nd bedroom. It looks to me also that in Israel, many families have washing machines but line dry much of their laundry. Almost everyone there has a small mirpesset.

su7kids

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 2:31 pm

When we lived in Israel I saw large families fit into small apartments. bunk beds and trundle beds, and beds that turned into sofas during the day. They have trundles there that are 3 layers high. Kids share beds and they surely did not have as much STUFF as we have here in the USA.

They get by with a lot less. The boys are in school all day long, so its only bed time.

Marion

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 2:50 pm

red sea wrote:

Motek I just wonder, if there were 2 bedrooms why is it that All the kids slept in the living room?

ALL the kids slept in the living room to maintain their parents' privacy and tznius, I would assume.

red sea

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 4:14 pm

mimvan said there were 2 bedrooms, right?

I would assume one for the parents and one for what?

I think shalhevets prob right that it was one bedroom.

All the families I know that raised such a houseful in 2 bedrooms, either had one gender in the 2nd bedroom and the other (of lesser # ) in the living room or all the children in the bedroom and big boys dorm at yeshiva. And to fit so many in one bedroom lots of bunkbeds actually.

mimivan

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 4:48 pm

red sea wrote:

yeah, I was confused about this too when the woman first described it to me...maybe she meant 2 rooms? I've seen such houses...in Batie Hungarim in Meah Shearim. There is basically a very very long room that extends from the front door to the back of the house, a bedroom off to the side, bathroom and kitchen off to the side and a small alcove. The big long room was where the children slept, the bedroom for the parents.

I don't know why she said 2 bedroom...but all the houses in this section of Mea Shearim are built the same, and many contain 10 or more children.
Yes, from what I understood, they stored their bedding someplace during the day. I guess they had their own cubbies or corners for their own things.

nylon

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 4:56 pm

My grandparents were married after the war, and there was a housing shortage at first and then they didn't have any money. So they raised my mother and her brother in a 1 bed apt in Brooklyn. The kids slept in the bedroom and the living/dining room was my grandparents' room at night. Nothing like Mea Shearim, of course--4 people versus 10 is a big difference. But you can do it and my grandmother said she got used to it. The problem came when they finally saved up to buy a house--they had no furniture to put in most of it!

mali

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 7:39 pm

My mother grew up in Me'ah She'arim. She was the oldest of seven kids, all of whom slept in a two room apt. The dining room was pretty big, and somehow accomodated the entire family. As far as privacy, the parents had to wait till everyone was asleep. My mother still remembers the day they moved into this "luxury apartment". She excitedly told her teacher that they have a private bathroom in their own house.

My parents lived there after their wedding, and my father once visited a friend's house in middle of the night, and he saw one large pillow in middle of the room, and several kids sleeping around it, like a pie.

mimivan

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 9:43 pm

mali wrote:

My parents lived there after their wedding, and my father once visited a friend's house in middle of the night, and he saw one large pillow in middle of the room, and several kids sleeping around it, like a pie.

Awwww!!! how sweet! Tongue Out