Is it strange to put both children in one room when they could have a bedroom each?

[MrsScamander]

DD(5) and DD(10mo) currently share a biggish bedroom as we're renting a 2 bed flat.

So far it's working well, youngest DD still wakes during the night but eldest DD doesn't wake up. We currently put the baby to sleep in our room and transfer her into her room when we go to bed and eldest is asleep.

We're looking to buy a 3 bedroom flat, the master bedroom is a very good size with loads of storage space and room for toys (of which there are many!)

My plan would be for the children to share the big master bedroom as it would fit all their furniture. They'd have plenty of room to play and we wouldn't constantly have toys in our living room, currently we have to keep toys in our living room because we have nowhere else to put them and I hate it.

Me and DP would have one room with our bed and chest of drawers, and another with the wardrobe, dressing table, clothes horse and ironing board.

This appeals as I hate that at the moment we have nowhere to hide the clothes horse, it's in our bedroom at the moment and gets in the way.

But when I've discussed this with others they think we're silly not to give each DD their own bedroom and we have the master bedroom.

It's not our forever home and by the time the oldest is a teen we'd hopefully be somewhere bigger so they can have their own room, but right now they don't seem to mind each other.

Is it a silly idea?

Mine share though we have more space. It's lonely sleeping alone!

My 5yo twins (boy/girl) share and the third bedroom is used as guest bedroom/storage.

My kids have a smaller age gap and asked to share when they were 3/5 but it didn’t work well at all for us. Too much bickering over toys and problems when friends came over were the main issues for us. We put them back in their own rooms and now they often choose to share but have their own space and get on much better. Bear in mind that your youngest is only 10 months so is limited in how much they can do for themselves yet. When she gets a bit bigger her ability to annoy her big brother will grow hugely!
We have 3 bedrooms full of toys and a playroom and yet I still have a den and a Lego city taking up the whole of the living room floor today

My children loved shareing at that age, but started to ask for their own room from about 8 years old.

I think the only problem is if you have such young children playing unsupervised upstairs in the master bedroom. Your younger child in particular should really be within your sight or at least earshot at this age, and you're more likely to pop in and out if they're playing on the same floor as you (assuming you spend most of your day downstairs). Lots of toddler accidents are silent (eg choking, concussion) so they do need to be playing close to you.

Mine love sharing and don't need to, four year age gap with eldest eleven. I had to share a room until I was 16/17 and I never minded. Don't get me wrong my sisters and I killed each other at times but I actually missed it when an older sister moved out leaving it so my younger sister and I could finally have our own rooms.

I think sharing is fine and I also think sharing a smaller room is fine. Take the biggest room for yourselves as I wouldn’t plan for their bedroom becoming their regular play space until they are much older - in any family I’ve experienced, children much prefer to play wherever the action is until well into primary school. And your sitting room will still be full of toys.

Mine share, even though they could have their own rooms, because they like the company. I assume they will want their own rooms at some point, but at the moment they're very happy together.

Mine share even now they are in their teens and have the option not to. They like each others company... If they are in their own rooms they what's app each other for hours.

Mine share, always have. I have tried to convince them to have a room each, but they refuse! (dds aged 8 and 6). So the bedroom is just beds and bookcase, and the other room has all the clothes and toys in. Works well for them.

I think the idea of young kids playing in their bedroom(s) rarely works in practice. It's much harder to keep an eye on them than if they're in the body of the Kirk, and kids seem to want to be social anyway.

There are quite a lot of hassles about room sharing - bed times, bickering, privacy, interrupted sleep, sharing of belongings, friends being over etc etc. Obviously these can be mitigated if necessity demands, but I wouldn't choose it if could easily be avoided.

Making your kids share so that you can effectively have two bedrooms/ not have to look at a clothes horse seems like an odd choice to me.

Both my sons always shared a bedroom as all we had was a 2 bedroom council house & both got on so well as one is 18 & the other one is 15.

My 2 share but there's only 18 months between them so go to bed at the same time, I've asked if they want separate rooms but they prefer to share!

My 3 and 5 year old dds share and love it. We have a 3 bed but one bedroom is on a different floor and at the opposite end of the house.

Their bedroom is massive though, and them sharing a room means all the big toys like the dolls house can be shared easily.

Neither one wakes the other up but they do sometimes stay up later than I'd like chatting to eachother.

Give the kids their own rooms and get a condenser dryer. You can put it in the shed if no room in the house.

You can put it in the shed if no room in the house

How do you know they’ve got a shed?! . Or even a garden for a shed?

theconstant it's a flat so the living room is right next to the master bedroom (well, it's right next to all the bedrooms really )

My DCs (8&5) share for similar reasons.
We have bedroom space, but our room is too small to adequately store our clothes, so the small 3rd bedroom is filled with clothes. They share a double room. Long term, we will finally sort out the shell of an extended 4th bedroom which has been uninhabited since we moved in which will then free up the current master room and small single.

They enjoy sharing, the biggest issue is that they chat together after bedtime.

I've got 7 years between my boys and sharing is a nightmare I wish we had an extra room.
Ds1 15 hates sharing and just wants to hang out in his room.
Ds2 8 just wants to be with his big brother but often gets a box of toys into my room to play.

If it works for you and your dc do it. You've got the option to change later on.

sycamore eldest DD has always played mostly in her room. Sometimes she plays in the living room but most of the time she takes herself off to play in her bedroom.

She could still play in the living room, it just means at the end of the day I can pack all her toys back in to her bedroom

We have 2 kids the same sex and they shared til last summer when the eldest was 12 and the youngest almost 10. The spare room came in handy for working from home/storage etc

We hoped ours would share (we have enough bedrooms for them to have their own) but it didn't work! I think that is to do with personality though. I would second what a PP says and still keep the largest room for yourselves and accept that you might have some toys in the living room... get very creative with the storage and teach them to put them away every evening (which is good for them) and you will still have an 'adult' space.

We are just in the process of undoing exactly that. We thought a spare room would be great and DSs would play together or downstairs but suddenly DS1 (6) needs space to sit quietly and read etc and DS2 (nearly 3) will not leave him be. I’m also planning to give DS1 a desk in preparation for homework becoming more independent.

It happened for us de facto anyway because they’re both awful sleepers and either waking woke the other.

My 2 dds are 8 and 6 and have shared for the past 4 years, we are just in the process of moving them into their own rooms, eldest has decided she want her own space. Youngest is loving that shes getting the bigger room with all the toys.
I think sharing has really built a great bond between them.

Me and my brother had our own bedrooms but used to bunk in with each other so often that mom rejigged everything to put us together rather than finding us trailing across the landing with our pillows and quilts in the middle of the night

We live in London and it's very common - a lot of people here have 3 or even 4 bed houses and two children sharing.

I think the key is to give them some privacy and control. We have 4dcs so sharing is required - but each has their own bedside table that is off limits to the others, and each gets one cubby of the IKEA kallax shelving for their precious items that the others aren't allowed to touch. They're also not allowed on each others beds without permission. Other than that, all is shared and free for all - there are fights sometimes, but they do enjoy sharing, and at least for now they actively choose it.