Why don’t kids share bedrooms anymore? Why is it considered shocking or abusive to suggest that kids could share one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids share a room. We live in a 4 br house but have 2 home offices taking up 2 of the bedrooms.

This seems pretty selfish.

[Anonymous]

And people complaining that they can’t make ends meet because of their $7k/month mortgage on their 7 bedroom house.

[Anonymous]

No rational person says that it's shocking or abusive. But the answer is because

1) houses have gotten larger
2) households have gotten smaller

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
As a foreign parent living here with children, what shocked me most (apart from the gun thing, and the healthcare thing) is that the American Dream suggest each child should have their own bedroom... but then come school field trips, and it's 4 to a room, with 2 to a bed. And then college, with tiny dorms and several kids per room. In my home country, where siblings often shared bedrooms, no one is expected to share beds on field trips, and there are no campuses with shared dorms - students get rentals, with one person per room.

The USA is a wonderful country in general, but certain things about it don't make sense.

Not a foreign parent and this surprised me too that on school trips they have 4+ kids to a room and no adult supervision. And, the dorm situation sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids share a room. We live in a 4 br house but have 2 home offices taking up 2 of the bedrooms.

This seems pretty selfish.

I agree. Why can't one of the home offices be in your bedroom? And have the camera face the wall so it isn't obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
As a foreign parent living here with children, what shocked me most (apart from the gun thing, and the healthcare thing) is that the American Dream suggest each child should have their own bedroom... but then come school field trips, and it's 4 to a room, with 2 to a bed. And then college, with tiny dorms and several kids per room. In my home country, where siblings often shared bedrooms, no one is expected to share beds on field trips, and there are no campuses with shared dorms - students get rentals, with one person per room.

The USA is a wonderful country in general, but certain things about it don't make sense.

Where are kids sharing beds on overnight field trips?

The dorm thing is about money. You can get a single room but it costs more.

[Anonymous]

I shared with my sister from age 0-15. Shared a bathroom with 2 people from 15 through (coming home from college) 22.

Interestingly, I had very hard times with roommates in college, including when I finally got my own room but only had to share a bathroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No rational person says that it's shocking or abusive. But the answer is because

1) houses have gotten larger
2) households have gotten smaller

This, especially the second point

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As a foreign parent living here with children, what shocked me most (apart from the gun thing, and the healthcare thing) is that the American Dream suggest each child should have their own bedroom... but then come school field trips, and it's 4 to a room, with 2 to a bed. And then college, with tiny dorms and several kids per room. In my home country, where siblings often shared bedrooms, no one is expected to share beds on field trips, and there are no campuses with shared dorms - students get rentals, with one person per room.

The USA is a wonderful country in general, but certain things about it don't make sense.

Where are kids sharing beds on overnight field trips?

The dorm thing is about money. You can get a single room but it costs more.

High school DECA trip to state's, as one example. --np

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As a foreign parent living here with children, what shocked me most (apart from the gun thing, and the healthcare thing) is that the American Dream suggest each child should have their own bedroom... but then come school field trips, and it's 4 to a room, with 2 to a bed. And then college, with tiny dorms and several kids per room. In my home country, where siblings often shared bedrooms, no one is expected to share beds on field trips, and there are no campuses with shared dorms - students get rentals, with one person per room.

The USA is a wonderful country in general, but certain things about it don't make sense.

What country are you from to where the school class goes on a trip and each child gets their own individual hotel room?

It's the way the hotels or youth camps work. Here, there are no hotels with single beds. So unless you want to pay a lot, you're forced to put two kids to a larger bed, which isn't quite appropriate, in my opinion. In my country, there are plenty of single beds, and of course no one will share those. Or there are youth camp structures with lots of single beds in one room (that we call "dorms"). Hotels here don't work well for kid groups. It's a disadvantage of being such a rich country that hotels only have double beds (or Queens)!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids share a room. We live in a 4 br house but have 2 home offices taking up 2 of the bedrooms.

This seems pretty selfish.

DP. I imagine it’s those jobs they’re working that pay for the house. And not every job can be worked off the dining room table. Our kids share a room b/c we need one of the bedrooms for an office. Also it is in the basement and we want the kids on the same level as us. It also doubles as a guest room. We’ve decided that for us, this is the best use of space and my kids seem to like sleeping together. They have cool bunk beds and I hear them up after bedtime talking. I hope it will end up making them closer. And they’ll be used to sharing space when they go off to college. There can actually be benefits. Nothing selfish about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids share a room. We live in a 4 br house but have 2 home offices taking up 2 of the bedrooms.

This seems pretty selfish.

My spouse and I both have 100% remote jobs. Where do you recommend we work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As a foreign parent living here with children, what shocked me most (apart from the gun thing, and the healthcare thing) is that the American Dream suggest each child should have their own bedroom... but then come school field trips, and it's 4 to a room, with 2 to a bed. And then college, with tiny dorms and several kids per room. In my home country, where siblings often shared bedrooms, no one is expected to share beds on field trips, and there are no campuses with shared dorms - students get rentals, with one person per room.

The USA is a wonderful country in general, but certain things about it don't make sense.

What country are you from to where the school class goes on a trip and each child gets their own individual hotel room?

Yeah, this is crazy to me. Why would each child get an individual room on a field trip? That sounds like a logistical nightmare and more costly for parents.
And I do prefer the dorm mates/suitemates ideas to make friends on campus. I'm not opposed to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids share a room. We live in a 4 br house but have 2 home offices taking up 2 of the bedrooms.

This seems pretty selfish.

I agree. Why can't one of the home offices be in your bedroom? And have the camera face the wall so it isn't obvious.

Not everyone has a giant master bedroom with room for a desk. Ours fits a king bed and dresser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids share a room. We live in a 4 br house but have 2 home offices taking up 2 of the bedrooms.

This seems pretty selfish.

I agree. Why can't one of the home offices be in your bedroom? And have the camera face the wall so it isn't obvious.

We both work from home 100% of the time. Its more than a laptop-on-the-bed situation.