What on earth is wrong with their beds?

[pegkerr]

The girls have perfectly good beds but absolutely insist on sleeping on the floor night after night. This has been going on for months.

Why???

Comments

[fairmer.livejournal.com]

For the fun of it, of course.

I spent a month sleeping on the floor of my bedroom, in a tent-like structure of my own devising, made out of afghans and my bedframe. The key was getting the tent over the heating vent so I could be super-warm when the heat was on... anyway, it was for the fun of it--the difference, the uniqueness, the experience.

[aome.livejournal.com]

Novelty? Mattresses aren't firm enough? I suspect it's more the novelty, though. MiniPlu sometimes prefers the floor, too, for no apparent reason. Since you've mentioned they lack space in their room, any chance you could just take the beds OUT for now (do you have a basement for storage?), if they're persisting on sleeping elsewhere anyway?

[tigergladys.livejournal.com]

I did that when I was a kid. But I had a really crappy matress. (Still do, at my parent's house. Kills my back every Christmas.)

What do they say when you ask them?

[megd.livejournal.com]

Personally, I hate my bed at home. It use to be fine but after I broke my arm, I can't sleep in it. I spent the 12 days of recovery either in Dad's leather recliner or Will's bed.

Ever since, I still migrate to the recliner. Will's bed came off the list after he passed. My bed's perfectly ok, I just would rather be in the recliner.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

They are extremely evasive.

[satakieli.livejournal.com]

I did that for about six months once; I think I must have been about ten. It started out as an adventure (sleeping bags always were, and sheets and blankets on the floor seemed dangerous and fun), and I kept doing it because it was comfortable, and the floor made me feel more connected to other things while I was asleep than the bed, which is kind of isolating. Then one evening sleeping on the bed seemed adventurous in comparison, so I did, and that was the end of that.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I sleep in my recliner a surprising amount, too. It's why I keep the ratty old thing.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

At a guess: just because. If it were one of them, it could be the bed. But it's both. Who started it?

B

[bordergold.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I can't stand to sleep in the bed because the mattress feels weird. There's nothing wrong with it, it just isn't comfortable. :)

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Could it be a phobia they aren't comfortable talking about?

[tiellan.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. Have they been shipwrecked on deserted islands recently? Seriously, I have no idea. I know there were times I preferred sleeping on the couch rather than in my bed, but that was because the couch was soft. Floors are not known for being soft. Maybe it feels like camping out, but without the "out" part?

[psychic-serpent.livejournal.com]

My kids went through a stage like that. It passes. Perhaps the floor is too comfy. ;)

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

It's harmless, who cares? Well, obviously one question is is there something behind it you should know about. But there's not much you can do if they won't tell you.

Even just from LJ, it's obvious that you let your girls make or have major input into many important decisions; but that doesn't guarantee that they don't feel overcontrolled, and this kind of taking control of something they *can* can be a reaction to that. What little I know about adolescents suggests they aren't entirely rational, *especially* about control issues :-). If this is letting them feel more in control, seems like a cheap price.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

If there is tenting involved, all is clear.

Blanket tents are just too cool for words.

[naomikritzer]

Are they snuggling up next to each other? Maybe they like sharing sleeping space, and don't fit in one single bed.

Molly and Kiera have perfectly fine twin beds and yet regularly ask to share Kiera's. (Naturally, when we were at a hotel where they HAD to share a bed, they were a complete pain about it.)

[naomikritzer]

Alternate theory: there are monsters under the bed, but children sleeping on the floor are invisible because they're not in the expected location.

[lkw18.livejournal.com]

when i was younger i made up a tradition by myself that every christmas eve i would sleep on the floor. where i got this idea, or why i decided to continue it, i have absolutely no idea.

there just might not be any explanation behind it at all.

[writeonq.livejournal.com]

Because it's easier to sneak out quietly and dance until the dawn comes. Worn out slippers and stray pieces of jeweled leaves are always a dead give-away...

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

For the fun of it probably - there's something exciting about sleeping somewhere other than your bed. In my childhood I've slept in our car, on a bed of clovers in the garden, on the floor using towels instead of blankets, in the living room on the cushions from our garden furniture etc. etc. etc.

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

I did this during a couple of periods growing up, too. It's not uncomfortable if you lay down several double-folded blankets and put a sleeping bag on top, especially when you're young and spry. If you had asked me why, I'd have been evasive too.

Mostly off topic, one very cold winter, Shawn and I moved the box spring and mattress out into the living room and slept in front of the fire every night. I highly recommend it, if your lifestyle will support a mattress in the living room (not a lot of tea with the vicar's wife, that sort of thing).

[kokopoko.livejournal.com]

I once slept on the floor for a long time because my back hurt sleeping on the bed.

[moony]

You have already got a bunch of "I used to sleep on the floor when I was a kid" replies, and this is sort of another one. For a good chunk of time as a kid I slept on the floor because I felt too vulnerable in my bed. I had a petrifying fear of the dark (that followed me into adulthood) and I just felt so exposed in my bed, like a sitting duck for anything that could come and get me. So I'd crawl out and sleep on the floor. It seemed logical at the time.

[folk.livejournal.com]

At one point, I made this great big nest in the corner of my bedroom, with the mattress and blankets, bookshelves, desks and cabinets surrounding me. It was exceedingly cool, I thought, but there was no "reason" why.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The younger of my two closest cousins used to be found sleeping in the oddest places: on the floor of the hall or the bathroom, or at the foot of her older sister's bed (they didn't share a room) or her parents'. Her mother quizzed her extensively: did she not like her bed? Was there something wrong with her bed? Did she want a nightlight/a new pillow/a different blanket/etc.? Nothing.

When we were teenagers, the dialog that started it all came out:
Older: You're not Mom and Dad's real kid, you're an alien. Someday your alien parents are going to come back for you.
Younger: That's not true! Mom and Dad love me!
[Now here is where my older cousin's real genius came shining through. A lesser mind would have said, "No they don't!" and her sister would have gone running to Mom for snuggles, problem solved.]
Older: I know they do. They love you a lot. They don't want to give you back, and neither do I. That's why the aliens will have to come through your window at night, when there's nobody else awake to stop them.

There were no windows in the hall or bathroom, and in either other bedroom, another family member would be present to stop the aliens.

I doubt that this explanation generalizes.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

There would be lots more space in their rooms if you got rid of the beds, since they aren't using them.

I have a fold up matress pad which I fairly regularly sleep on when my back is bad, because it gives me the advantages to my back of sleeping on the floor without the disadvantage of not having enough padding for my hips. When not in use it folds away. It did occasionally occur to me in my crowded house in Lancaster that if I slept on it all the time I'd have so much more room in the bedroom.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember sleeping in a dresser drawer when I was a kid on occasion.

(I know, I know, the above is all disgramical and such, but I really liked the phrase "...a kid on occasion.")

[leiabelle.livejournal.com]

That's an awesome story! Genius indeed. :D

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Some Things Parents Were Not Meant To Know.

Sleeping on the Floor

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I am amazed by the number of people who are responding along the lines of: "I did this when I was a kid."

I had no idea.

Sometimes the best thing the Internet can do is remind you that you're not alone, that your problem/situation/challenge is not unique, that lots of people have gone through what you're going through and came out okay.

Are their beds piled with stuff? (I assume not, otherwise you would have said.)

B

[raenaissance.livejournal.com]

I slept on the floor for about a month when I was little, I remember. At first it was because I was afraid of the monster that was under my bed (he snuck up behind me from my headboard to read over my shoulder as I read before bed). Eventually I got scared enough so that I slept on the floor, outside of my room in the hallway.

After I got past the monster phobia, I still slept on the floor occasionally, just for the novelty. I still think that it would be great fun to clear out my closet, put down blankets in there, and fall asleep inside of my closet. I still haven't actually done it, though!

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Sounds like it might be part of some game that would be spoiled by parental participation.

[amandageist.livejournal.com]

Because they've forgotten about the centipede.

I show newly dead brown recluses and scorpion carcasses to my young on a regular basis, and they *still* want sleepovers and they leave their clothes and shoes and backpacks all over the floor. They have no sense.

[wilfulcait.livejournal.com]

I used to sleep in my closet as a child. Not a young child, either -- I was in 7th or 8th grade when I started. Claustrophilia, maybe.

[scott-lynch.livejournal.com]

Oh, my god. Someone really set off a high-powered weirdness grenade in your house, Peg. ;)

Re: Sleeping on the Floor

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, other times not.

[aome.livejournal.com]

every christmas eve i would sleep on the floor

Every Christmas Eve I had to sleep on the floor. My grandma got my bed, my grandpa got the spare-room bed (yes, they sleep in separate twin beds; always have, but they're married 71 years so it obviously works for them), and my aunt/uncle got the sofabed. I slept on the floor of Mom's room. When I was in college, my mom stopped hosting the clan, so I had to pick whether I'd spend Christmas with the clan or with mom. For the first two years I chose the clan, at Grandma and Grandpa's house. There's ONE guest room (which my aunt/uncle got), so I was, yet again, on the floor - in the study, this time. I think I was about 23 before I finally got to sleep in a BED on Christmas Eve. Felt weird. :D

[castiron.livejournal.com]

When I was fifteen, I slept on the floor in my closet for three months. The first night was because there was stuff on the bed, I was tired, and it seemed easier to unroll a sleeping bag than clear the bed. The remaining 89ish days was for fun.

In the first house I lived in, my brother and I slept on the floor during the summer because we didn't have air conditioning and the floor was cooler than the bed. That's presumably not the case here, though....

[perimyndith.livejournal.com]

I slept on a piece of foam on the floor for about a year when I was 17 or 18. I had a perfectly nice queen-sized waterbed someone had loaned my parents when they were done with it, but I decided I didn't want to sleep in it anymore. This despite my younger brothers, who were prone to catching garter snakes and putting them in containers from which they would inevitably escape.