Benefits to young kids sharing a bedroom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I shared a room with my sister (who is four years older than me) until I was in high school. She was very, ahem, fast...? Once I was about 11 or 12 it got really, really hard. Constant personality clashing. She eventually started just sleeping on the couch until she went away to college. Don’t do it to your kids

Not even close to what Op is talking about. These are little kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m two years younger than my brother and we shared a room from when I was about 3 to when he left for college. We got along for better or worse but once we were a little older we definitely forged a really strong bond. I highly recommend it.

Looking back, obviously there was lots of petty stupid stuff that went between us as a natural consequence of sharing the same space.. I’m sure that was hard on my parents. It didn’t help that part of the reason we shared a room was because we didn’t have the means of a lot of other families where we grew up.

My brother died a month ago after a short and sudden bout with cancer. He was in his mid 30s. I feel like I’ve lost a piece of myself. But I’m more glad now that I had all that time to be so close to him. If you count the hours we were asleep, I spent more time with him than anyone else in either of our lives. That’s tough to beat.

I am so sorry for your loss, PP.

[Anonymous]

I feel like kids need their own rooms if possible. Every kid has their own sleep patterns and sleep is very important while kids are growing. My kids naturally all get up at different times. If they were all in the same room, my early riser would wake the others. Then they’d have less sleep and be cranky. I would never put my kids in the same room if I could avoid it.

[Anonymous]

Our girls 4 and 5.5 share a room and usually also choose to sleep in the same bed. It’s precious! We have the space for them to have separate rooms but having them share is working so well. Also, my husband grew up in a big city overseas where extended families sharing a 2br apartment was normal and accepted, and still today even wealthy families who can afford the space have children share rooms. So it’s the cultural norm for that side of the family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like kids need their own rooms if possible. Every kid has their own sleep patterns and sleep is very important while kids are growing. My kids naturally all get up at different times. If they were all in the same room, my early riser would wake the others. Then they’d have less sleep and be cranky. I would never put my kids in the same room if I could avoid it.

Eh... ok right my girls wake suo a little earlier and wakes up the other... issues stemming from that are very very minimal. If older DD slept in another room she would wake us up or her sister anyway...

[Anonymous]

My boys are 19 months apart and we just recently moved into a new house where they will be sharing a room. With everything closed, we haven't been able to buy them a new bed (DS2 was still in a toddler bed at our old house and we gave it to a friend) so they've been sleeping together in DS1's full size bed and have been loving it. They are 3 and 5. They've actually been keeping one another occupied in their room for about 20 minutes or so every morning which buys DH and I a few more minutes of sleep. They're both early risers (have always woken up by 6:15am) so it's pretty nice getting an extra 20 minutes!

[Anonymous]

My boys, ages 2 and 4, have shared a room since the youngest turned 1. They love it. Yes, they occasionally wake each other up, but not often. I'm usually amazed at what they can sleep through! My 4 year old used to be a terrible sleeper (waking up a lot, crying out for us, coming into our room, etc.), but putting his brother in with him flipped a switch and now he's much, much better. Like someone said above, it's totally natural to want someone near you at night.

[Anonymous]

College administrators talk about this a lot. In previous generations, almost everyone going to college had previously shared a room with a brother, sister, etc. Therefore they had the skills of negotiating lights out, who gets to use the room when for what purpose.
Sharing a room sets them up well for college.
On the other hand, a lot of kids today have their own room at home and end up having a single in college. There are a lot more singles available nowadays, mostly because kids don't have these skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My boys are 19 months apart and we just recently moved into a new house where they will be sharing a room. With everything closed, we haven't been able to buy them a new bed (DS2 was still in a toddler bed at our old house and we gave it to a friend) so they've been sleeping together in DS1's full size bed and have been loving it. They are 3 and 5. They've actually been keeping one another occupied in their room for about 20 minutes or so every morning which buys DH and I a few more minutes of sleep. They're both early risers (have always woken up by 6:15am) so it's pretty nice getting an extra 20 minutes!

I love this! I want to move my kids in together for this reason. I think room sharing in general fosters closeness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like kids need their own rooms if possible. Every kid has their own sleep patterns and sleep is very important while kids are growing. My kids naturally all get up at different times. If they were all in the same room, my early riser would wake the others. Then they’d have less sleep and be cranky. I would never put my kids in the same room if I could avoid it.

I disagree 100%. Sleep patterns change, should change, and change again in children. They should learn to naturally adjust to other siblings. It makes zero sense o me to give kids their own rooms within a family and then thrust them into sharing a room with a stranger in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m two years younger than my brother and we shared a room from when I was about 3 to when he left for college. We got along for better or worse but once we were a little older we definitely forged a really strong bond. I highly recommend it.

Looking back, obviously there was lots of petty stupid stuff that went between us as a natural consequence of sharing the same space.. I’m sure that was hard on my parents. It didn’t help that part of the reason we shared a room was because we didn’t have the means of a lot of other families where we grew up.

My brother died a month ago after a short and sudden bout with cancer. He was in his mid 30s. I feel like I’ve lost a piece of myself. But I’m more glad now that I had all that time to be so close to him. If you count the hours we were asleep, I spent more time with him than anyone else in either of our lives. That’s tough to beat.

I am so sorry for your loss, PP.

So sorry for your loss PP. I shared a room with my brother 2 years younger growing up. Though we have very different personalities and not close as adults, we have those fond memories to share and keep that bond when we do get together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like kids need their own rooms if possible. Every kid has their own sleep patterns and sleep is very important while kids are growing. My kids naturally all get up at different times. If they were all in the same room, my early riser would wake the others. Then they’d have less sleep and be cranky. I would never put my kids in the same room if I could avoid it.

I disagree 100%. Sleep patterns change, should change, and change again in children. They should learn to naturally adjust to other siblings. It makes zero sense o me to give kids their own rooms within a family and then thrust them into sharing a room with a stranger in college.

I'd love for you to be correct, but my kids have shared a room off and on (I think it's great for sibling bonding) and they sleep much better in separate rooms. The don't necessarily "learn to naturally adjust."