Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Flip

Original poster

Room sharing

7 replies

MummyPig24 · 07/09/2012 06:36

I have 2 children, ds is almost 5 and dd is 2.5. They have been sharing a room for 2yrs now and have bunkbeds. We are happy with it and ds and dd love each other and love sharing a room. However a lot of people seem to think every child should have their own bedroom.

We are moving next wek, to another 2bed, house from a flat, has a huge garden. People seem baffled as to why we aren't moving to a 3bed. Well, simply, we cannot afford the extra rent.

Is it a problem with.children of opposite sexes sharing? The children are happy, isn't that the moat important thing?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

ClaudiaSchiffer · 07/09/2012 06:39

Sounds fine to me MummyPig.

My 2 dds share (aged 7 & 5) and get really lonely without each other. I think once they are older ie teens it becomes important to have their own room but their tiny and are happy so why change it? Also a huge garden sounds ace. And if it's what you can afford right now then it's the right decision for your family innit.

FeersumEndjinn · 07/09/2012 06:43

It's certainly not weird and I know several families with a boy and a girl sharing a room aged under 8. They get a lot more fun out of sharing and they don't particularly value privacy at that age. When your eldest starts to hit puberty they will start agitating for their own rooms and you will definitely need to be able to afford that once they are older teenagers, but that is years away.

Original poster

MummyPig24 · 07/09/2012 08:35

Thanks for the reassuarance. I'd been feeling guilty that we aren't giving them their own space. But as you say they actually would rather be together and don't have privacy issues yet. At some point we would like a 3rd child so would have to move to a 3/4 bed but who knows if any of that will happen. My Dp and I are still young and therefore were not financially stable when we had children (isnt hindsight a wonderful thing?!) Family keep on that we need to buy somewhere but err with what money exactly?! I know that if council housed then children of opposite sexes cannot share above a certain age, but does anyone know of any rules regarding this when privately renting or own your home?

OP posts:

sleepingbunnies · 08/09/2012 20:06

I shared with my brother and sister... Until my brother was at least 7 then we moved and he got his own room... But we missed each other at night and one or the other of us used to sneak to the other ones room and sleep on the floor!

I don't know why some people are so precious about children sharing rooms! We have a 3 bed house but our DDs are in together and will be for the foreseeable!

habbibu · 08/09/2012 20:09

ds and dd share so that we have a spare room (both families live hours away) and also that DH has somewhere to work at home. They love it, and would be very sad to be separated at the moment (dd 6, ds 3 (almost for both)) - eventually we'll have to, but it suits us all very well atm.

MacMac123 · 11/09/2012 07:42

People are definitely precious about kids sharing. We have 3 bed rooms but one if off the living room so not ideal for a child. And I like having it as a spare room. We got one DS nearly 4, and DD due in 8 weeks. DD will be in with us then they will share. When DD ready for big bed, will prob get bunks. Had loads of comments about it (in a youre going to have to move house/ you dont mind them sharing) but really can't see the issue! And it's annoying.
Ironically, I grew up in a very large technically 7 bed house. But my parents ran their own business and lots of the rooms were offices. Only 3 available for the family. I shared with my brother then my sister until I was about 12! Noone who has seen the house believes this take of 'woe' when I tell them as they think I must have had my own en suite in that sort of place! But I didn't and enjoyed sharing. I really can't see the issue with it but I know how you are feeling!

I feel that at some point with a boy and girl, they will want their own boy/girl 'themed' rooms but to be honest they're not getting that for a while!!!

Original poster

MummyPig24 · 11/09/2012 08:32

Thank you. It's proving difficult to find unisex things for the children's bedroom. I've managed to find some lovely duck egg blue with white spot curtains. I just don't want it to be boring as we didn't do much in the way of decorating this house because we knew it was short term (if 4yrs counts as short term?!)

If anyone has any ideas for unisex ideas please post. The children have bunkbeds as they are a great space saver and love them but they can be converted to 2 singles.

At the moment, in the middle of one move, I'm not sure I can bear the thought of another!

OP posts:

Flip