AIBU not to give my children a double bed each?

[TheCherries]

I am in the process of decorating new bedrooms for my two young teenagers.

Both are insistent their friends all now have double beds and it isn’t fair I am making them keep their single beds.

Changing their beds isn’t an option we don’t have the budget for it anyway but it got me thinking is it really a rite of passage to have a double bed as a teenager?

Surely you wait until you are an age to share the bed with another. My feeling is the larger the bed the more you get used to spreading out.

I would prefer to keep the single bed with guest bed underneath for sleepovers and enjoy the extra space in their rooms the rest of the time.

We have two spare bedrooms so we don’t need to double up the use of their beds for relatives staying over.

Do yours have a double bed?

You need to seriously consider two things here, firstly is their need for the larger bed due to them actually growing rapidly, getting taller and having to curl up to sleep in the current size of bed?
Secondly you say you are doing up their rooms, is this all your input or are you allowing them some choices as it is their bedroom, not yours?

Not everyone who gets their DC a double bed are rich with mansions and huge bedrooms.

As I said ^^ up there - my room is 9ftx7ft - 3 of my DC have the bigger 2 rooms. Dc1 has a room same size as mine. We both have double beds. Why are people so annoyed by it?
Does it really matter?
My DC spent 18 months without a bed at all - just a duvet on the floor. Really, a double bed or a single bed just doesn't matter - just buy what you can afford and what your DC would like. It really is as simple as that.

I have 2 teenagers, girl 13 and boy 16 and ive recently got them both a double bed, just bigger and more comfortable

If the children are average size why have larger beds? You have to pay more for bedding and do you really want the bother of washing them? You could be doing extra loads in the machine.

Worse though, is the possibility of them sneaking up friends of the opposite sex. Do you really think teenagers are ready for that sort of thing?

Not everyone who gets their DC a double bed are rich with mansions and huge bedrooms.

I'm very average. Not rich, not poor. Live in a house that's not big and not small. Many threads on Mumsnet make me feel like a pauper but this one makes me feel like I live in a mansion, as all my bedrooms are easily big enough for double beds, wardrobes, desks, drawers etc.

And on a serious note, it also makes me appreciate that I'm lucky to have that sort of space.

My mum was shocked when I moved into my own home at 25 and bought a king size bed.

Worse though, is the possibility of them sneaking up friends of the opposite sex. Do you really think teenagers are ready for that sort of thing?

Because no teenager ever had sex on a single bed. In fact teenage pregnancy didn't exist until we started putting double beds into their rooms.

Or even friends of the same sex given that some will be gay...

" all my bedrooms are easily big enough for double beds, wardrobes, desks, drawers etc.

And on a serious note, it also makes me appreciate that I'm lucky to have that sort of space."

I remember reading somewhere (maybe here!) that dressing tables are becoming much less common because most people just don't have the space for them in their bedrooms.

"f you book a room for one you get a double room in every hotel I've stayed in over the last twenty years for pleasure and business."

And not in ANY of the hotels I've stayed in for pleasures. Yes, the expensive hotels do just have doubles and some of the cheap ones too like Travelodge, but most cheaper hotels have singles and doubles and twins. How do you think friends share rooms if only doubles are available?
Just stayed in a twin room over the last few days (in Spain) and stayed in two other hotels this year, both in London and both in single rooms.

I did, but had my boyfriend stay over as a teenager so made sense.

"My DH is 6'2" and I'm 5' 11" and we are both fine when we regularly sleep in standard single beds."

I suppose the assumption is that the tall people would sleep across the bed or something, but it's silly - you don't see tall people being given double beds in hospitals do you?
And as I've said before, a single is bigger than half a double bed so they'd have more space than their parents just with a single (assuming the parents are sharing a bed).

Just thinking about when I had my own double bed and it wasn't til my final year at uni!
If you can't afford it any way then that's that!

This is a new thing, not one of my teenage friends had a double bed except one very spoiled only child friend. But he was quite large so maybe it was for his comfort

Not a new thing at all for some people, I'm 48 and had a double bed from about 10.

DS1 has had a small double for the last year. We decorated his room / changed his bed a year ago and decided we wanted a bed that was going to last him into adulthood. He's 15 now and 6ft 1 tall so not a small lad.

We're planning on doing up 10 year old DS's bedroom later in the year and he'll be getting the same bed. A little earlier than we'd planned but he is desperate for a new one and seems pointless buying him something he'll grow out of ( and moan when he's 15 that his brother has a better bed!). He's already 5ft 1 though so is likely to be as tall, if not taller than his brother

Both ds do. They are 15 and 13. Ds1 is 6ft so really appreciates a double bed. Ds 2 is heading that way also!!!

DH and I share, he's 6'2 and I'm 5'10. But we have a king so it's longer.

I'm not getting all the angst really, it's a bed, it leaves less space for ds2 to have a floordrobe. They are both 6'3. They find it more comfortable but can sleep in a single and do sometimes when we are in holiday. Usually you get two doubles and a twin in termS of rooms so they toss a coin.

We also went for beds that have no footboard as it allows you to hang your feet over the end. When I was a teen I had to shove my feet through the bottom bars of my single if I wanted to lie stretched out and I'm shorter than my dc.

llizzie I’m pretty sure teenagers will be happy to have sex regardless of the size of the bed or whether anyone thinks they are ready for it.

I think it is fairly new. When I was growing up no one had double beds. We moved house last year so my oldest now has a double as his room is much bigger. He’s 17.
The next younger is 15. He keeps asking for a double as apparently “everyone” has one. But he won’t have a lot of room in his bedroom if he had a double bed. It’s not a small room but has a very big window along one wall, he also has a wardrobe and desk etc. I can’t see there’s room for one.
My youngest is only 10. No room in his room for a double. But with the big age gap I’m sure by the time he’s in his older teens he can change rooms if he wants as one of the older will be gone 🤣

Worse though, is the possibility of them sneaking up friends of the opposite sex. Do you really think teenagers are ready for that sort of thing?

Omg seriously? Can see it now "My teenager didn't think about sex at all... until I bought them a double bed"!

Llizzie it might come as news to you but teenagers don't even need a bed for sex, never mind a double one!

LagunaBubbles I dunno, she might be onto something ... I didn’t think about wearing make-up until I had a dressing table ... I think it’s known an ‘furniture enlightenment.’

OP What have you now decided ?