To ask how long 2 kids can share a room for

[cadburyegg]

We have 2 boys, a 3yo and a baby who will still be in our room for awhile yet. They will eventually share a double room. The plan is to eventually extend so they can have their own room but we won’t be able to afford that for a long time yet.

AIBU to think they can probably share for 5-10 years? How old are DCs generally before they want their own space?

My brothers shared a room until they were 18 and 21. They managed perfectly fine. I have three (young) boys (close in age) and the likelihood is that two of them will need to share until one of them moves out, as it stands now, 4 bed rental properties are not easy to come by or affordable/

I know someone who has 3 children sharing (boy12, girl 11, boy 8). I shared with my nan until I was 7!

My sister and I shared a tiny bedroom for 14 years until she left home. We don't speak to each other.

This is mumsnet. Sharing a room on here past the age of 5 or 6 is a one way ticket to educational failure, utter sibling hatred and being found in the gutter aged 22.

In reality people muddle on doing the best they can and I don't think there's an easy answer - depends on the kids concerned and the layout of the room concerned (if you can make up partitions with furniture or whatever.

It's one of those questions where MN is absolutely ridiculous in the privilege some people live in at times.

My boys share it's not ideal as 1 is 15 and the other is 7 but the youngest knows he comes home gets what he wants out his room that leaves ds1 alone time to do his homework etc.

Ds1 and dd shared from about 3 and 2 until 7 and 5 purely coz we are in social housing.
We weren't entitled to a 3 bed until oldest turned 10 but we had that many problems they said they had to move us out while they sorted them so we might as well just move into a 3 bed rather than tempory accommodation.

Fwiw ds1 hates sharing and wants his own space where as ds2 hates not sharing.

My parents had 5 children so we never ever had our own room. I shared with my sister and my baby brother and my 2 older brothers had the bigger room. When my oldest brother moved out my younger brother moved to the other room so it was just me and my sister again

I shared a room with my sister til I moved away at 18. Then I continued sharing with her when I came back. It was fine. Even if you never manage to extend, sharing with a sibling of the same sex is absolutely fine.

I think it’s fine to share if the room is big enough. People seem to not realise that simply moving to a bigger house isn’t an option for many people. Why should people with 2/3 bedrooms be limited in the number of children they have? Obviously within reason of course but many smaller houses have space downstairs for study/ toys etc.

With regard to GCSEs and the need for study space, all mine have their own rooms now but still prefer to study at the dining room table!

I shared with my sister until she was 17 and left home. I was 12. My 2 brothers also shared until my older brother left home. It has never occurred to me till now that the oldest siblings never had their own room! Anyway it was never a problem and we are all still very close 30 plus years later! It taught us to share and be considerate of others and it was fun!

My 3DC (all girls) all shared one double room - and they're older teens now. No problems. It was what they were used to. No educational failure here either! We're in a 2-bed house. We could have made the dining room into a bedroom for one of them, but after discussion, we kept that room as a hang-out room, place to do sleepovers in, etc.

My parents extended their house to add a bedroom when I was about ten so my brother and I each got our own bedroom. At the time my mum told me that if we’d both been boys or girls, we would have just shared until we left home.

I shared with my DSis (1 yr older) until ishe moved out aged 21. We had a 3 bed house but DGM also lived with us. I moved out a year later when DSis and I bought a house together so we obviously got on okay, but at last we had our own rooms.

I reckon that at secondary age a bit of space to call their own helps.

Thanks for all your comments. I realise they would be fine to share a room til they move out but hopefully we will be in a position for them to have their own rooms. I really valued my own space as a teenager so it’s not a snowflake thing, I agree that young kids don’t need their own rooms though. Secondary age seems reasonable