Pros and cons of children sharing a room?

[beatie]

I have 2 girls and sometime in the future, I plan to have them sharing a room. We have 3 bedrooms, so they don't have to share a bedroom, but I think it will be nice for them whilst they are young.

They will get bedroom 2 and if they sleep in bunkbeds, I hope they'll have enough floor space to out their toys and (mostly) play happily together. We have a playroom too (not completely separate from our living room).

So, I have this nice idea in my head... but before I set about making plans, I think I should visit the negatives and possible pitfalls and check that it is a workable idea.

DDs are currently 1 and nearly 4. I envisage dd2 going into a bed around 22 months, when dd1 is 4y 8m. What things do I need to consider?

[Surfermum]

DD and step-d share a room when step-d is with us. They have a much bigger age gap than yours at 10 and 3, but I really wish we had an extra bedroom so they could have their own rooms.

Dsd has to be really careful when she goes to bed that she doesn't wake dd, and she can't read in bed because she can't have a light on. In the mornings dsd is very often woken up by dd who wakes up earlier and jumps on her.

At her mum's dsd has to share with her sibling there too and she moans like hell about it. She said she tidys up and her sister comes along a makes a mess, and she can never get any peace and quiet on her own.

I had to share with my sister when I was younger too, and can remember being so excited when my eldest sister got married - not because I was going to be a bridesmaid but because she was moving out and it meant I got a room of my own - pretty much for the same reasons as dsd.

HTH.

[josben]

We have a 3 bed house and I have just had my 3rd baby and so DS1 and DS2 have been sharing a room for 6 months. They absolutely love sharing a room and it is really nice for them to have one another (they are 4 and 5 by the way.) BUT DS2 doesn't seem to need as much sleep as DS1 and so he is always the last to fall asleep and the first to wake up. He is a real chatterbox and so this disturbs DS1 who really needs his sleep now he's at school. So for me there are pros and cons - but if we had a 4 bedroom house I think that I would put them in their own rooms so that DS1 would get a better nights sleep.

[Peridot30]

we have a 2 bedroom house and my ds and dd share room. only problem i have is at bedtime when one doesn,t want to go to bed they keep the other awake but its great during the day when they are playing and laughing together.

[wanderingstar]

Ds1 and 2 are 20m apart and shared a room for 6 or 7 years, from when ds2 was about 18m (in a cotbed with sides still up). We then moved house and now they have separate bedrooms.
It was great most of the time, but ds2 has always been a sleepier chap than his brother, so a little care is needed there. The boys loved sharing (they didn't have to in the old house as we had enough bedrooms).

One thing which is useful, depending on the layout and acoustics of your house, is to use a baby monitor in the evenings if you don't already, in order to check that one isn't disturbing the other iyswim.

Ime crying in the night, coughing etc by one boy didn't seem to disturb the other, so if you think your girls will enjoy sharing, do give it a try.

[Glassofwine]

We have a three bed house and three children so two have to share. At the moment it's the DD's who are 7 & 4, DS aged 3 has a room on his own. Interestingly he feels very left out and upset that everyone else has a sleeping partner ie. Mum has Dad and DD's have each other.

Mostly the DD's get a long fine. DD1 does often say she'd like to swap with DS, which I think he'd love, but I'm not sure about swapping it all around. We have made sure that in the room there are spaces and drawers that are specific to each girl, so they ahve a bit of ownership. The only downside I think it that it may not be sustainable for long - will they want to sleep in bunk beds and share when they are heading toward teens?

[Flamesparrow]

No experience with children, but as a child - I loved it. Yes, we had squabbles (mainly over me being messy and her not... ), but it was a great closeness that we lost when she moved into the little room - although even then we would have "sleepovers" and she'd come sleep on my floor.

The playing after going to bed, talking before falling asleep, and general togetherness is something that I will always treasure, and the bad points were far outweighed by the good.

[KTeepee]

What do your dd's think about this? I am also thinking about getting my ds's to share at some stage in the future. Ds1 is 5 and at the moment not too keen on the idea. DS2 is 2.5, still in a cot and often wakes up during the night so I don't plan to change things in the immediate future.

How about putting bunkbeds in the larger bedroom anyway and leave it up to them if they want to sleep together every night or ocasionally? If they don't want to share it would be useful to have an extra bed so that if you have an overnight guest they could have the smaller room and your dd2 would go in with her sister anyway?

[Flamesparrow]

DD is begging for DS in her room... given that he is still 6 months though I can't bring myself to traumatise him that much yet!

[Pollyanna]

my dds aged 3 and 5 have always shared a room. The biggest downside is that they have different sleep needs. dd2 falls asleep earlier and gets up earlier. dd3 would really like an extra half hour in bed. They love sharing though (in fact they share a bed too - through choice rather than necessity) and it is nice to have a spare room for guests.