Sibling “sleepovers” and room-sharing

[LifeIsHardButSoAmI]

My girls are 5 and 3. They are very close. They have been playing together brilliantly through lockdown and I have been so thankful that they have had each other.

Sleep has been an issue for eldest. She fights sleep to the death. Always has done. Three year old however is out at 7.30pm and up at 7am like clockwork.

They have been asking and asking for a sleepover. Their pals do sibling sleepovers at the weekend. We are keen for them to share a room at some point and I think sleepovers would be lovely and a good way to introduce the concept. However - I just don’t think they’ll sleep. I think they’ll wind each other up and carry on and will still be awake until the small hours and we’ll all end up fraught and tired.

I just wondered how you handle this? Do your kids have sleepovers? Do they eventually settle? Do we persevere until it becomes the new norm?

You can only try it. My dc have always shared a room, but they enjoyed "sleepovers" to share each other's bed at around that age. I would say part of the fun is disrupting bedtime a little! Our two often slept better together than apart (but possibly that's left over from co-sleeping when they were babies).

An added asset is that we'd get a bit longer in bed in the morning because they would get involved in a game together.