Aibu to put 4 children in one bedroom to make way for a playroom?

[wtfjusthappenedhere]

Currently our house is set up like this.
We have 6 children, ages 12,10,8,6,5 and 1.

Downstairs - living room, kitchen , dining room, school room (we home ed and we need this room)

Upstairs - main bedroom , bedroom for 12 year old on her own, bedroom which the 10 and 6 year old share, bedroom which 5 and 8 year olds share and the 1 year old has the box room on her own.

It doesn't work. The 12 year old and the 1 year old are fine. The 12 year old just keeps to herself and he one year old has no choice.

The middle children are constantly ending up in one bedroom or another so they all end up sleeping In one or two beds piled up
Like puppies .

The clothes are really disorganised and we end up with toys all over the schoolroom which is distracting.

So my idea and I can't decide if I'm crazy - is to put two sets of bunk beds in one of the bedrooms (they are well big enough for this) plus clothes storage.

The other bedroom becomes a playroom.

We have 5 girls one boy. The ten year old is the boy, I realise that in a year or two he won't want to share with his sisters but by the the one year old would be old enough to switch and so he would get the box room and the baby would love in with the girls.

Obviously I'm not saying it ha to stay like this forever, when they are too old for all the toys we could easily move it back but am I insane in thinking a "bunk room" and playroom might work?

I wouldn't have coped sharing a room at all.

Lucky you had the luxury of a room to yourself. Not everyone can afford a room for each of their children. Some have to share!

YANBU OP

My friend has 4 DSs and got sick of all the chopping and changing and room switching so put all of the boys in one bedroom and had custom bunks built in, similar to the ones in the pic ZZZ posted on the previous page, with each child having their own "pod". Each individual pod has their bed then at the end of the bed there's a couple of built in shelves for alarm clocks/books/any special toy they don't want to share, reading light, plug socket and blackout curtains so even if the others were up/lights on they could sleep.

The room is painted in a neutral colour and then each child was allowed to decorate their pod how they liked and choose their individual duvet sets (all of her boys support different football teams so it was the easiest way to prevent arguments!). They all share the rest of the room but their pods are their own private spaces and can still shut themselves off from the rest of the room if they want.

Great idea for now. Put a sofa bed into the playroom and you also have a spare bedroom for guests or if one of the 4 sharers is ill or wants a sleepover. Very flexible arrangement.

We like our bedtimes thanks! The children have learned when they need to sleep and they go to bed when they are tired. We watch tv together, play games and read until then . I'm not sure how forcing them to lie alone in their bedrooms would improve their evenings. They get plenty of sleep.

I don't homeschool old my oldest has now started secondary school (as will the others at that age) and she self regulates her bedtimes. She gets up at 6am so she is tired earlier and goes to bed early.,, surely this is what most people do

My dd will go into the box room in about 6-8 months probably my youngest will be two then so old enough for a toddler bed in the girls room. When the girls are older and need more privacy we will probably change the other bedroom back into a bedroom and perhaps the school room downstairs Into another depending on home many are home educated by that point.

Sorry i mean my ds will go into the box room

We have three bedrooms (one very very much a shoe box) and just one DS at the moment. However when the next one comes am planning to put them both in the tiny room to share for sleeping just as soon as the 2nd sleeps through and use the other bedroom as a playroom (with a sofa bed for occasional visitors). Best use of space IMO and much easier to contain mess.

Sharing rooms is totally fine for children. I shared with my sister till the age of 7 - moved to a bigger house then so we're given own rooms but we were quite happy and would have shared much longer if needed

My dd will go into the box room in about 6-8 months probably my youngest will be two then so old enough for a toddler bed in the girls room.

I would just put him in the box room now tbh rather than shifting things about again in 6 months. The cot could go in the room with the girls until baby is ready for the bottom bunk bed. You could hold off on buying one of the mattresses (if buying new ones) for the bunk and don't put the slats in then put the cot in the space where the slats and mattress should be.

Where do you sleep?

Vladimir - dh and I have a room . We have 5 bedrooms on total.

like a dormitory. sounds fun!

Could you afford something like this it's amazing

I think it's a grand idea. On a much smaller scale, DH and I have moved into the second bedroom and have put 7yo DD and 2yo DS into the master bedroom together. We've gained an office/music room in the box room.

I'd actually go with moving your DS into the box room and putting the baby in the shared room (or playroom in a cot if easier) first as last. Otherwise you're going to have another switch around very soon. DS moved into the bottom bunk with a bed guard and his little cot bed duvet when he was 1.5yo.

I think it sounds great.

As an adult who uses bedroom just for sleep so has smaller room than DS (because we have 2 bed and so he has toys in his room) I can see why it would work perfectly.

It also fits in with being able to retreat when they are tired.

I think it sounds great and means you can have a room dedicated to rest and sleep and the other for play; works well with different kids needing differing sleep patterns at times too.

A lot of people on here seem to be fixated on bedtimes and routine , would never have worked for us .

It sounds like a good plan.

I'd suggest getting bunk beds that are stacked single beds so you have more flexibility with them.

I would stick with what you've said, I wouldn't put DS is the box room now as some have suggested.

The 4 'middles' will have fun, it would be mean to exclude DS on the basis he's a boy. When HE wants to move into the box room he can, it's hardly a massive deal to switch them in a year or two. Plus it's far better to have the baby & all the baby stuff in another room.

I loved sharing a room with my sister. We have a technically 3 bed house, but thats 2 small double rooms, and one box room that is the size of a double bed, so you can get a single bed in it and have maybe a foot of space then the wardrobe, the doors only just open :P
I had the box room til i was a toddler, then moved in sharing with my sister and the box room as a play room. At 12 or 13, my sister decided to move to the box room to have her own space. Then i got those "bunk" type beds where the top is a single bed, the bottom a futon couch type thing that folds out to a double bed. I hated the top bunk, ladder hurt my feet and it creaked awfully as it was metal. I was regularly woken up at least twice a week by the creaking of my sister creeping in to the top bunk, right up until she want to uni :D