If your DCs (successfully) share a room can you please tell me....

[Pendulum]

what age gap they have, what age they started sharing, how long the arrangement continued or is planned to continue and so on?

There is a 3.6 year gap between DDs1 and 2. DD2 currently has her cot in our teeny tiny "third bedroom" but it's not big enough to fit a signle bed. If they were to share a room when (say) DD2 reaches 3 and DD1 is 6.6, could this work or is the age gap too much? I'm wondering whether DD1 will want "baby" things in her room and whether they will disturb each other all night. Would it make any difference if we put them together earlier?

Any views welcome (will feed into our ongoing decision process about whether we need to move house soon or not!)

2.7 years between our boys and they have bunkbeds.

DS1 is 6 and ds2 is 3.

No problems at all and they love it. If we had a 3rd bedroom we would use it as a study or spare room as DH thinks they should share.

we have lovely 2 bed house and ds and dd have always shared. First a cot, then a bed, then a bed and a cot and now 'sort of bunk beds'.

They is a 22mth gap. ds is 5 and dd is 3. They get on fine, no major arguments but plenty of little quarells just like most kids.

The only disadvantage I have is that I usually prefer to wait until dd is asleep before I send ds to bed - this is because if they are both awake they talk and prevent each other dropping off.

thanks. so in both of your families the DCs have always shared a room? I wonder if that would make a difference in our case, where they are used to being on their own. DD1 is very ekkn on the idea (obsessed with bunkbeds) but I'm not sure whether she would like the reality of having her room effectively divided in half.

also, did/ do they wake each other in the night?

DD1 very keen on the idea

girl and boy, 8 and 6. Sharing since ds was 2. Always sucessfully and they aren't plannng not to share anytime soon.

I think it helps that there are NO toys apart from teddies in the bedroom so there's no mess to fight over cleaning up.

When they were younger we had a pink wall and a blue wall and the other 2 walls were white. The curtains are neutral.

Ds1 and 2 have shared since they were 3.4 yrs and 6 months. They are now 5.6 and 2.8. Ds2 wants to copy everything ds1 does and has, so in the new year when we decorate the room and get them bunkbeds, they will be having a Power Ranger bedroom!

I think they do keep each other up a bit later in the evening than they would if they had separate room, but they play reasonably quietly together and settle themselves down by about 8.30.

We use our teeny tiny 3rd bedroom as Dp's office (works from home), so they will probably share until they leave home!

Our children all have their own rooms but sometimes DS1 (7) and DD (5) move their mattresses and share a room. I don't think they would want to share all the time though.

our dd's are 18mo and 5 1/2. they started sharing when dd2 had just turned 1. they both love sharing and surprisingly don't often wake each other, although both are awake in the night much more often than we'd like. they keep each other company in the mornings and often we hear dd1 reading dd2 stories in her cot, although we've also heard her yelling "wake up G, wake up!" which doesn't go down quite so well

the only down side i can really see is that if we wanted to do any kind of controlled crying with dd2 it wouldn't be an option because of disturbing dd1, but her sleep isn't that bad and tbh it's not really our style.

we have no plans for them to stop sharing any time soon certainly not in the next 5 years and tbh if we moved to a bigger place i imagine they'd both still want to share for a while yet.

Mine are both good sleepers. DD goes to bed first at about 6.45 and is usually asleep by 7. Ds goes up as soon as dd is asleep and is usually asleep by 7.30. They do sometimes wake up in the night but not often and they just come into my room and 'i need a wee/drink etc'.

Ds gets up early but is mostly good about not waking dd.

I have three boys aged 8,6 and 3 in the same room. It's fine really. Slight difficulty with keeping each other awake now and again but not biggy and worth it for the extra living space.

3 year between my two girls, they have no choice in sharing or not. They will till they leave home!
They giggle a lot which is lovely to hear and they have their personal bits at the end of the beds. They share chest of drawers etc.

Ds1 is 6 1/2 and ds2 is 3 1/2.
They have been sharing since ds2 was born. It no longer works. They are getting their own bedroom for Christmas.

I have a 22 month age gap. dss shared from ds2 being 6 weeks old.

They shared for about 8 years! (Bunkbeds). Rarely disturbed each other evenings/nights, but sometimes in the mornings.

Giftwrapped of course, with tinsel.

(We are moving around Christmas)

2.8m between mine

Put dd2 in with dd1 when she was about 8m, IIRC

There have been no problems. If dd2 woke in the night, dd1 slept through it. They do wake each other up in the morning but generally get up between 6.30-7.00 so not too early. Play in the room together... no probs with toys or anything as they generally play with the same things

Sounds fab, QS.

2.1 yrs between my ds's. They have always shared.

Will (hopefully) be moving to a bigger house soon, but to be honest, would still keep them in the same room.

They're very close and hate sleeping away from eachother. They can have the other room (once we move) as a play room.

I think when they get to teenage yeard though they will need their own room.

We have DS2 (10) and DS3 (6) in the same room - have been for 3 years. Works OK - only downside is the chatting way past lights off, and the fact that when one wakes up the other always gets woken. And the room is a permanent tip - just not enough space. But it works, and they're happy.

21 months between our boys. They have shared from when Ds2 was about 12 months, no need as we have a 3rd bedroom but they both like the company. They are now 6 and 4, still love sharing, have bunk beds and quite big bedroom so lots of space to play.

Long may it last because 3rd bedroom is used for storage and general dumping ground.

Quinetessentailshadow what is no longer working about it if you don't mind me asking?

dc are 4 & 2, and have shared for about a year, likely to continue for a very very long time. I like it and so do they. Is good to share imo and ime.

Just laughing to myself as my two are sharing a room for a treat tonight and show absolutely no signs of quieting down. Very bizarre surreal conversations between a 2 and a 4 year old and a singing upsy daisy doll!

DS1 and DS2 have shared for the last 6 months since they were 2.5 and 5 months - I was really nervous about it but it is the best thing we ever did. We had our house up for sale when we moved them in together as I was convinced they needed separate bedrooms, but they settled in together immediately so we took it off the market! In fact if we ever moved to a 3 bedroom house we would still have them in the same room. It would feel strange putting them in separate rooms -I like the fact they are together.

ok, so lots of positive stories here! My dream of a study may not be as far away as I thought....

Maybe I should try putting DD2's cot in DD1's room for a while before investing in bunkbeds. She is still quite small (13 months) and has regular screaming fits in the night, which we think are teething related -so might wait a while first.

Would be interested to know at what age you feel it will no longer work for DCs to share. I'm guessing the early teenage years might be the tipping point.

My dds share a room they are 5 and 2. Have been sharing since we moved 5 months ago. They love it and haven't had any problems yet. Unless you count them waking each other up at 5am on a regular basis. I just leave them too it. Have a gate across the door so they can't get out. They just play until we get up properly at 7am. If dd1 needs the toliet she just shouts and I let her out.

They will be sharing for the forseeable future as DSD (16) has the third bedroom. When she grows up and moves out they will get their own rooms. Will probably come when they need most as teenagers.