Do Your Kids Share a Bedroom?
THE FARMHOUSE
Do your kids share a bedroom? Our kids do, although they’ve all had their own space at one point. I grew up sharing a room with my twin sis and it was important to me that my kids experience it too (for a couple reasons I’ll get into below). So today I thought it would be fun to talk about how it’s going for us and invite you guys to share your own experience with kids sharing/not-sharing bedrooms, as well.
The boys bedroom | art, striped blankets, rug, other sources here
When our middle child, Brooks, was about 1 1/2 we moved him in with his older brother, Wilder, who was 4 at the time. Brooks was just making the transition to a big kid bed and was mostly sleeping through the night. I was eager for the boys to share a bedroom because I had growing up and I guess I viewed it as a right of passage and a good learning experience, too. There’s some inherent lessons in sharing and compromise that come along with sharing a bedroom.
Admittedly I was apprehensive to change a sleeping situation that was working for us (we have NOT been blessed with good sleepers), but the timing was right because I was pregnant again and we’d be needing the nursery for the new baby.
So we made the transition. And I have to say, except for a couple of adjustment weeks, the boys sharing a bedroom has been a real positive. For them, for us, and for our whole family.
A couple of months ago Daphne (who’s 2 1/2 now) asked to bunk with her brothers. As the baby of a family myself, I understood. Who wants to sleep in their own room when the two coolest people she knows are just across the hall?! So we said sure.
We moved Daphne’s crib mattress onto the boy’s room floor (she was done with a crib anyway) and all 3 kids now sleep in the same bedroom. Daphne’s clothes are still in her nursery/bedroom and she has taken to coming into Garrett and my bedroom in the middle of the night to snuggle (a habit I just can’t find any desire to break), but if you ask her, ‘she sleeps in the boys room’. I know it won’t last forever, but it makes my heart happy.
We might look for a toddler bed for Daphne if these sleeping arrangements stick. But for now this works.
Do your kids share a bedroom? I’d love to hear how it works for your family and any benefits or drawbacks you’ve noticed as a result.
