Children sharing rooms?

[Rtfairy]

What are your thoughts and opinions on this? I have always wanted 3 children (currently pregnant with DC2) but it is likely that we will only ever be able to afford a 3 bedroom house (currently in a 2 bedroom plus attic). I think it would be acceptable for 2 dcs to share a room but DH thinks we should stop at 2 so nobody has to share. He says this is his only reason and if we could afford a bigger house he would want a bigger family. Wdyt?

Abeautifullie- how does your arrangement work for early mornings? Does the 2yo wake the 16yo? What about late evening when older one wants to read in bed play xbox and 2yo is asleep? And what about night wakenings?

How do you deal with decor? And where to store nappies etc.

Does the older one bring friends back?

My ds1 (11) shares with my ds3 (5)
Ds2 is better on his own (he's chosen a mattress on the floor over sharing) and dd has her own room too.

Share definitely.
This whole 'thing' about dc needing their own rooms is very much a MN thing - masses of children share bedrooms with their siblings.

We have three and the two oldest (7 and 6) share. We're planning on moving house at some point this year, and would hope to have enough room for separate rooms. And when we told them, they were adamant they wanted to keep sharing!

I have two DDs and two DSs, the two DDs share a room and the two DSs share a room. More often than not, if one is away at a sleepover the other one from that room bunks in with the other two so that they don't have to sleep by themselves.

We have 3 DSes and a 4 bed house. DS3 was in his own room until DS2 was old enough to go up top on a bunk bed, and ever since then they have shared. I occasionally suggest going back to separate rooms but neither of them want to! They are 5 and 3. DS1 is nearly 11 and likes his own room, mainly because he reads with the light on until goodness knows when.

Night feeds weren't a problem as when DS2 is asleep it takes a minor earthquake to wake him. His brother crying and doors opening/people talking stand no chance!

We now have a spare room which is rapidly becoming known as the cat's room since he has taken to sleeping on the bed in there.

We have five in a three bed, ds1 and ds2 share and ds3 and ds4 share, bunk beds in both rooms.

Dd is still in our bed.. At some point we will have a re jig and she will go in with younger two boys.

We have a utility room downstairs we may do up to become a small single bedroom as well.

The eldest is almost 15 and the youngest is 3. Sharing has its issues but they haven't known any different and it works fine.

My sister and I often chose to share.

My sister and I shared a bedroom for about 10 years and we loved it (most of the time!). We used to read each other stories, put all our teddies to bed, have big long chats, etc.

It's great way for children to learn to share, keep things tidy, etc. I think it's an important stage of learning and development. We currently only have one DC but if we (hopefully) have a second we would definitely put them in the same room after the early "waking 4 times a night stage", at least for a few years.

I think it's nice for teenagers to have their own room, especially if they are different sexes, but it's not a "must have" and not something that would stop me having more children if everything else made sense (money, car, general living space in the house, etc).

I have 4 dc, 2 ds aged 16 and 12 who share a good sized room, 2 single beds, 2 chest of drawers a wardrobe and bookshelf. and 2 dd aged 8 and 4 they have a bunk bed in the box room. there isn't a huge amount of room and when ds1 leaves for uni next year I will probably move ds2 into the box room and the girls into the other room so that they have room to play.

we are fortunate enough to have a downstairs that is twice the size of upstairs so have a conservatory and a small study/playroom that they currently play in instead of bedroom.

I really don't think it does any harm to share a room, in fact I may even go so far as to say that it is better for them. They have to learn to share and get along and respect each others property. the only minor issue w have had is ds2 wearing ds1's clothing, but he probably would have done that anyway.

I used to share with my sister, even though we had 3 spare bedrooms. I only got my own room at 17 and studying for a levels.

I shared with my sister until I was 19 and she was 16. Until my brother got married. Then we had separate rooms until my brother came home after 6mths. We then shared until he left again home again 18mths later.

weatherall

Sorry, only just seen your message.

We moved DS-16's PC and Xbox into our dining room when they started sharing. The dining room isn't used by anybody after dinner so DS isn't disturbed and can talk to his friends online in privacy.
Night/early wakings are not a problem. DS-16 sleeps through the noise DS-2 makes.
I keep DS-2's clothes and nappies in a chest of drawers in my room and generally change him in there.
There is a large ottoman full of toys in the boys' room which we swap around with the ones in small boxes downstairs.
DS-16 doesn't have friends over much, but as DS-2 only really has his cotbed, ottoman and drawers in the room, it can still be used by teenagers. They tend to meet out though.
I'm on my phone so can't see if I've answered all of the questions. If there's anything else you'd like to know, just ask.
Just to put the sharing into perspective, DS-16 had his own room until last year, so it was. huge change for him.
After an initial bad attitude for a couple of days there is now no resentment. The boys get on brilliantly and I don't regret putting them in the same room at all. I was considering using the dining room as an extra bedroom, but our kitchen is tiny so nowhere else to put the table.

I have 6 children and live in a small 4 bed house, eldest dd has her own (boxroom) 2 girls 12 and 3 share a room, bunkbeds, room not much bigger, and 3 boys in the largest room 2X15 and 6 years old.

I had a teen dd sharing with much younger Ds.problems were when dd wanted friends sleeping over and bedtimes but we had no choice so they had to suck it up. Dd lived at various friends houses a lot though!
Now dd1 and dd2 share the room- they are 23 and 20!

We've just moved into a five bedroom house. We're lucky to have so much space but my two girls - 4 and 20months share a room (which works so well) and people really don't understand it! Like a previous poster said some of my best childhood memories come from sharing with my sister. Eventually they may want their own rooms but while it works it's lovely.

I had three in one room fur a few years. Dd1 now has own room

Some practical advice

• make sure each child has their own 'bit' of the room - mine have shelving above the bed which holds their stuff, no one else yo touch.

Get decent storage

Book lights are great if older child wants to read while little ones sleep

Also headphones for music listening computer games et

Never been a problem here either, teaches them to share quicker. older two like it, younger still at fighting stage but tough. They will work it out themselves

we have four dc sharing two rooms - two boys, 7 & 3, in one room & two girls, 13 & 5, in another. Both rooms are doubles & have a set of bunk beds. It works really well - though if dd1 wants to have friends for a sleepover we move dd2 in with her brothers for the night - they are all (currently!) happy with that. At some point in the next year or so we're having another double bedroom created in the loft - dd1 will have that, the boys will probably keep sharing & dd2 will have a double bed in her room - that'll give a bit more flexibility when we have guests.

It was harder when they were younger, there was more night time disturbances but the biggest problem is that dd1 is VERY messy whereas the others are all naturally tidy & get fed up with her. The younger two tend to play downstairs, while the older ones spend more time in their rooms so the age gaps have worked quite well!

& yes to book lights & headphones.

a friend of mine was one of 9 in a 3 bed house. All very happy kids and fairly normal adults. We had 3 in a 2 bed for years.
Its a very modern idea to have a bedroom per child. It's certainly not a necessity.

i have 3 dc 2 daughters and a son the girls love to share i tried the oldest in her own room and my son in with me hes 7 months and they hate it apart they prefer it together maybe this will change when they get older my oldest is 5 this year the middle child is 3 in november i shared rooms with my sister when i was little