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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU not to give my children a double bed each?

529 replies

TheCherries · 16/04/2019 23:22

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?

OP posts:

GillianUsedToLiveHere · 17/04/2019 07:22

I sleep in the space of a single bed as does 6'3" Dh as we have a superking zip and link but it is 6'6" long. So basically two single beds zipped together.

Both my teenage sons have a single bed because when they share a bed in future they will not have more space than that.

Their rooms are not really big enough to accommodate a double so a single it is, just like when I went to uni and went from a single at home to a single there.

The first huge bed we had was a 5ft that Dh and I bought when we moved in together.

Vulpine · 17/04/2019 07:23

Mine have never had them. If they want one they can move out and get one.

AJPTaylor · 17/04/2019 07:23

My older 2 got doubles when they were about 15. Youngest has just had her room done up and at 11 has gone for a day bed.

BikeRunSki · 17/04/2019 07:26

I never knew this was a thing.

Bouncebacker · 17/04/2019 07:26

Umm..... mine are 7 and 4 and they both have double bed. We just had the beds - would have been silly to buy singles so we didn’t!

Chippychipsforme · 17/04/2019 07:32

Wait till they go to uni and are sleeping in a slightly less than single size bed in halls.

I'd have loved a double bed growing up.

Orangeballon · 17/04/2019 07:32

Your kids are playing you up. Tell them that when they can afford to buy their own beds then that will be when they have a choice.

Reddedder · 17/04/2019 07:33

My DS had a double bed at 10.

Raspberry88 · 17/04/2019 07:35

Gosh no. I don't remember anyone having a double bed when I was a child. Not least because so many bedrooms just won't fit them! I was happy in my single until I left home (then had a single in halls too!) Surely it's a rite of passage to go and stay with a bf/gf family when older and both squeeze into a very uncomfortable single!!!

Progress2019 · 17/04/2019 07:39

Mine are older teens now, but they had doubles when they were 13 and fifteen. Their beds needed replacing anyway, and there wasn’t a lot of difference price wise.

Younger daughter pushed for one, as it hadn’t even occured to us. Shes very aware if what other people have though, so I bet it's a ‘thing’ in our area. Older daughter wouldn’t notice if her friends all slept in hammocks, but she loves her double bed.

frenchknitting · 17/04/2019 07:43

I never had a double bed until I left home. However, I put my DC straight into a double from their cot. It just seemed more practical - more comfortable for the nights when I wind up in bed with them, and more flexible if we have people staying over. E.g. DH and I will sometimes sleep in DC's room and give guests our room.

Muddlingalongalone · 17/04/2019 07:46

I didn't have a double til I got my own rented flat aged 21 and neither did any of my friends as teens, however if the room plan I have in my head works out both of mine will have them as we next redecorate and move around in 3-4 years time.
I blame Dawson's Creek/the OC/Gossip girl etc for wanting this for mine. It just seemed so much cozier, but of course American tv houses are generally huge!

If you can't afford it then it's irrelevant anyway, but I doubt your teen will be the only one still in a single.

thecapitalsunited · 17/04/2019 07:48

I’m in my early 30s and lots of my friends had doubles when they hit 14/15/16. Not all but most did so I don’t think it’s a new thing. My parents have a fairly normal ex-council 3 bed terrace and my childhood bedroom took a double. My brother had the smallest room so he didn’t get a double until I went to university and got a year round let. As I wasn’t back regularly my parents moved him into my old room. He would have been 17.

Rubberduckies · 17/04/2019 07:52

I got a double bed when I room was decorated around age 12. I can't remember though whether I saved up birthday/christmas/pocket money to put towards it though. My parents would often ask for that if it was something unecessary that me or dsis wanted and were always honest if they just couldn't afford it.

jarhead123 · 17/04/2019 07:53

We did our kids rooms recently and got them doubles, they are 9 and 11

Figure8 · 17/04/2019 07:54

It's not really about what you think tbf... it's about what they want as it's their bedroom

Of course it's about what their mother thinks- she's paying for it.

My kids beds are dictated by the size of their rooms- dd has a box room so she has a single, ds' s room is bigger so he got a small double.

I had a queen sized waterbed when I was a teen (not in this country) but I paid for it myself. It was lush

Frazzled2207 · 17/04/2019 07:58

Genuinely baffled by this. My kids are primary age but I'm now wondering how on Earth I'd fit in two double beds for them when they grow. We don't have the room and I'm not aware of any teenagers that have a double -though tbh I don't know many teenagers.

I'm very tall, nearly 6ft and it never occurred to me growing up that I should have a double until I bought my own house aged 26!

MsLucyHoneychurch · 17/04/2019 08:02

It's not really about what you think tbf... it's about what they want as it's their bedroom

Piffle!

I'm sure this double beds for kids nonsense is an MN thing.

missmouse101 · 17/04/2019 08:02

My 18 year old and 15 year old have singles and no complaints. No way am I paying for double beds!

Ghanagirl · 17/04/2019 08:10

My two were in their toddler beds till aged 6 then went straight to double beds as we were refurbishing both their rooms.
It’s great for sleepovers.

ShatnersWigIsActuallyAMammoth · 17/04/2019 08:11

This is a new thing, not one of my teenage friends had a double bed except one very spoiled only child friend

Really? Blimey. I'm 45 and we moved when I was 14 to a new house and my parents bought me a double bed and we weren't well off at all. I certainly wasn't spoiled and I certainly wasn't the only one of my friends to have a double bed - admittedly, many didn't, but I was far from an isolated case.

RoseMartha · 17/04/2019 08:12

I dont know any teens with a double bed. But then most the people I know including myself have small homes.
I have no intention of buying dc doubles when they are teens.

Bluestitch · 17/04/2019 08:16

My kids (10 and 4) both have double beds. My youngest still co-sleeps and my older one has additional needs and sometimes needs help to settle at night so it's easier if all the beds can fit 2 people in!

thecapitalsunited · 17/04/2019 08:16

I don’t think my mum was on MN nearly 2 decade ago so I don’t think it’s an MN thing. I lived on a council estate so I don’t think it’s a rich people thing either.

Some people keep their beds for years beyond what is recommended. My DH has the same bed from childhood until he moved out for good in his late 20s. I’m guessing those that do buy new bed every 10ish years look at doubles if they have space and a new bed would be bought during the teenage years allowing for cot and toddler bed.

Bluntness100 · 17/04/2019 08:19

Mine got a double really quite young, ten maybe? And I also had a double at about that age.

If you can't afford it it's moot. But when you replace their beds, get doubles, then when they move out or come back to visit they are more useful.

Single beds are a bit shit. Let's be honest. Much nicer to have space.

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