Would you swap bedrooms with your kids

[PeacheyPeach]

Would you swap bedrooms with your children to give them their own space?
My two DC one is a teen, one is a tween ) share a bedroom at the moment, but they are constantly bickering and I think they just need their own space.
Our bedroom which is the largest has two windows so we could make a divide and they could have their own space.
Their room is obviously smaller so it would mean me and DH having the smaller room and would mean downsizing when it comes to wardrobes , chest of drawers etc
Would you make the swap or would you just deal with the bickering until they get over it!!

I'd probably look at buying a bigger house. If it's not an option then yes I'd consider swapping.

No. Don't reward bad behaviour. Address the "bickering".

Yes, teenagers spend more time in their rooms than adults.

Do you have a room downstairs you could convert into a bedroom for you and your DH? We did this and it worked out well. All 3 kids got their own room upstairs.

You probably only use your bedroom to sleep and change in, teens will spend hours in their rooms and it’s their safe space. To me it’s the obvious thing to do.

Yes, I definitely would. I spend most of my time at home in the kitchen anyway.

yes. Some of our guests have commented why DH and I have the smallest bedroom. But makes total sense - we only use ours for sleeping, teenagers live in theirs and have their friends over as well. Of course they need more space.

This is what I'm thinking, I only need my bed and somewhere for my clothes, they need their own zones don't they

Yes I would do that, perfect that it has 2 windows. They often do this on Sort Your Life Out. Otherwise maybe convert the dining room if you have one?

Absolutely. Teens having their own space is really important

Based on how much time my (almost) teen spends in his room I'd swap. I spend very little time in my room aside from sleeping and as they get older they will need their own space more and more.

I mean I love my bedroom 😂 it has amazing light and I will be sad to give it up but I think the kids need this more than me!

Yes, we used to have a smaller bedroom than our childrrn shared. Partly because that room had a balcony (which I wasnt goibg to ket a toddler have unsupervised access too!) But mainly because children have more stuff than adults.

My teens study in their bedrooms, relax in them, spend time with friends in them... we sleep in ours!

We did. I miss our old room and I hate being squeezed in with everything on top on itself but it was the right thing to do.

A few houses I've /we have had the tiny room! Once even the dining room on a sofa bed!

We made our largest room into two bedrooms and I took the middle room and youngest had the tiny room. Worked easier than them sharing in a smaller room. The individual rooms are all quite small but they have their privacy now.

I lived in a two bed flat with my boys (single parent)
I had the smaller bedroom because I preferred the view, I didn’t need as much space, gave the boys room for bunk bed and toys when they were little, and separate beds with large shelves in between when they were teens (Ds1: so I don’t have to look at ds2)

MiL could not understand why I didn’t take the largest room just because I’m the adult, but it would have been a nightmare the other way round.

I think I'm going to get my tape measure out and see how everything would fit , I'm sure my DH is going to be pleased I have a new project for him!!!
I would have converted a separate dining room but our downstairs is all open plan so it's not possible,
I'm thinking it might be rather cosy, Taking it back to our first flat before we got married!!

Definitely, teen bedrooms are their main place to be. DD spend hours there and especially when it came to Y9+, the amount of schoolwork meant she needed a quite place to do it, even more in Y11 and onwards.

Yes definitely. We always did this with our 2 sons.

100% I would do this. As pps have said, teens spend a long time in their room and adults it's just a base for sleep for most people I would imagine.

To the pps who said address the bickering and behaviours I'll just give you one of these 🙄and assume you have never had teenagers sharing a bedroom!

If you can turn a 2 bed house into a 3 bed then yes. Having your own room / space is so important as a teen in my view. A stud wall would be a lot cheaper than moving.

It’s not rewarding bad behaviour to acknowledge that an arrangement which was fine when kids were 8 and 6 (or whatever) won’t work as well when they are 13 and 11 and definitely not once they are revising for exams, start going out later with friends etc.

If not now, when?

Definitely

I definitely would. Having shared a room with my sister until I left home I am a huge advocate for children having their own rooms if they want them (I know some happily share).
As it turns out I have a boy and a girl so room sharing was never an option but I always feel sorry for same sex siblings that are expected to share just because they are both girls/boys, especially if a family has for example two girls and a boy and they boy gets his own room and the girls have to share.