Sharing a room big age gap

[Cocomandarin]

I have a seven year old and going to have another soon.

I had planned on turning our ‘dressing/spare’ room into a nursery. We have 3 bedrooms but they’re all very small hence us using one room for our clothes etc. I’d say one just passes as a double, one single and the third is an excuse for a cupboard.

I’m starting to think it’s too much hassle to change everything around, we’d have literally no space to move in our room with clothes and baby would be with us for a year at least.

has anyone’s children with a big age gap shared? Just looking for advice RE little space and welcoming a new baby.

I wouldn't if you can avoid it. And I'd do everything I could to avoid it. Your older one will need to be able to access their room without worrying about waking a baby, and will soon need to be able to do homework and chill out with friends.

I have boys with 10 year age gap. I still have my 7 year old in with me now and the 17 year old has his own room, there's no way I'd have them share, it just wouldn't work plus they can't get on for more than 23 seconds.

Just to add the 7 year old does have his own bed/wardrobe etc, it's a large double room. But he sleeps in mine anyway 😂

It’s already a huge change for your 7 year old, so no I wouldn’t. Your children need a bedroom more than your clothes do. Realistically, if you don’t have enough rooms and can’t divide your room to make a single, I’d be looking to move in the longer term. There is no way that a threenager and a hormonal 10/11 year old won’t kill each other sharing a room.

I think it would be tricky - your wee one will be toddling around a bunch of Lego, then your toddler will be hanging around a preteen. Very different bedtimes and stuff for the older kid that wouldn’t be safe for the younger one. If you have 3 rooms I’d prioritise making them separate spaces personally. of course if you can’t manage it they’ll be fine as plenty just have to deal with it but it’s definitely not ideal. There’s only 4 years between mine but we moved house so they could have their own rooms and don’t regret it.

I wouldn’t with those ages. Your older Dc will be 8 and they need their own space at that age, and it’s really not fair to put a 1 year old in with an older child. They’ll have different bed times and get up at different times, older DC won’t want toddler toys and decorations around the room and will want friends over.

It may be fun for a few nights at 8 &1 or 9& 2 but when the biggest is 12 it really won’t be wanting to share what sounds like quite a small room with a 5 yo .

If the room your 7-year-old is currently in is a single, then isn’t it going to be tight all round either way? In which case it’s much fairer that she / he gets to keep the room rather than having to share with a toddler.

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Thanks for your replies. I will definitely plan to keep them separate. It’s true it would be a lot for my 7 year old, even if she doesn’t know it yet (she’s told me she would like bunk beds 😭). I think the answer is getting rid of a lot of stuff we can live without and making use of the space we have.