three kids two rooms both genders what do you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go back to 1989,when I was 11 years old.I had a brother who was 4,and a sister who was 6.Up until then,we each had our own room.Dad gets job in city,and homes are more expensive there.Money is tight,and we needed to move quick.We settled for a 3 bedroom 2 bath.Unfortunately I got the short end of the stick and had to share a room with my 4 year old brother.The room was only slightly larger so we don't have much of a size advantage.To add to it,Our view was blocked by the neighbor 's oversized tree,while our sister had a most oh unobstructed view of the nearby downtown skyline.other minor things about our room were inferior,but I won't go into much detail.
The living hell starts.
My brother is naturally nosy,so you can imagine it got worse when he was in the same room as me.He had playdates,and each week or two,he and his manlet friends tore up the room,knocking my figurines and model aircraft off the shelves,getting notebooks and other personal items strewn across the floor,and messing my bed up.Worst of all,I had to clean up the whole room.I talked to my mom about this,and she tried to fix it.Her solution was to put duct tape in the middle of the room as a divider,but these are 4 year olds.Meanwhile,my sister had her own space that stayed nice and clean.She always went there for privacy,while my only private spot is a makeshift tent i made out of blankets.I also had a stash of goodies at the old house,but now I could not keep a single ring pop in my room in fear of him raiding my cabinets for candy.By some Miracle,when I was 13,our dad got a massive promotion and we moved into a more spacious 3 bedroom with an extra space with a window that is technically an attic.I moved in there,and life was back to normal.
Please never pair children that are drastically different ages.
Also you'll have trouble getting children to share it the had their own room until then.
Best of luck.

Far worse to have the boy and girl share than the 14 year old girl share with her 6 year old sister.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go back to 1989,when I was 11 years old.I had a brother who was 4,and a sister who was 6.Up until then,we each had our own room.Dad gets job in city,and homes are more expensive there.Money is tight,and we needed to move quick.We settled for a 3 bedroom 2 bath.Unfortunately I got the short end of the stick and had to share a room with my 4 year old brother.The room was only slightly larger so we don't have much of a size advantage.To add to it,Our view was blocked by the neighbor 's oversized tree,while our sister had a most oh unobstructed view of the nearby downtown skyline.other minor things about our room were inferior,but I won't go into much detail.
The living hell starts.
My brother is naturally nosy,so you can imagine it got worse when he was in the same room as me.He had playdates,and each week or two,he and his manlet friends tore up the room,knocking my figurines and model aircraft off the shelves,getting notebooks and other personal items strewn across the floor,and messing my bed up.Worst of all,I had to clean up the whole room.I talked to my mom about this,and she tried to fix it.Her solution was to put duct tape in the middle of the room as a divider,but these are 4 year olds.Meanwhile,my sister had her own space that stayed nice and clean.She always went there for privacy,while my only private spot is a makeshift tent i made out of blankets.I also had a stash of goodies at the old house,but now I could not keep a single ring pop in my room in fear of him raiding my cabinets for candy.By some Miracle,when I was 13,our dad got a massive promotion and we moved into a more spacious 3 bedroom with an extra space with a window that is technically an attic.I moved in there,and life was back to normal.
Please never pair children that are drastically different ages.
Also you'll have trouble getting children to share it the had their own room until then.
Best of luck.

Far worse to have the boy and girl share than the 14 year old girl share with her 6 year old sister.

PP here.
Forgot to mention a few other things wrong with such an age boundary.
I had a radio but I could hardly use it because my mom thought the songs I listened to were not 'appropriate' for a preschooler.
I had similar issues with posters and any figurines too.If they had violence or something on them i could not put them up.
Had a few incidents of him stealing money,and he once defaced one of my model airplanes,and damaged others.
If I left any crayons or markers out,he might draw on the wall,or on a piece of furniture.I always got blamed for this.He
He threw more toys than fits (He threw a lot of fits.)
I once bought a brand new alarm clock and the day after,he has dropped it on the floor,destroying it.
Even more fits.
Lack of closet space.
My friends i had over frequently tripped over something he left out.

2 ½ years of this.
Older children need their own space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go back to 1989,when I was 11 years old.I had a brother who was 4,and a sister who was 6.Up until then,we each had our own room.Dad gets job in city,and homes are more expensive there.Money is tight,and we needed to move quick.We settled for a 3 bedroom 2 bath.Unfortunately I got the short end of the stick and had to share a room with my 4 year old brother.The room was only slightly larger so we don't have much of a size advantage.To add to it,Our view was blocked by the neighbor 's oversized tree,while our sister had a most oh unobstructed view of the nearby downtown skyline.other minor things about our room were inferior,but I won't go into much detail.
The living hell starts.
My brother is naturally nosy,so you can imagine it got worse when he was in the same room as me.He had playdates,and each week or two,he and his manlet friends tore up the room,knocking my figurines and model aircraft off the shelves,getting notebooks and other personal items strewn across the floor,and messing my bed up.Worst of all,I had to clean up the whole room.I talked to my mom about this,and she tried to fix it.Her solution was to put duct tape in the middle of the room as a divider,but these are 4 year olds.Meanwhile,my sister had her own space that stayed nice and clean.She always went there for privacy,while my only private spot is a makeshift tent i made out of blankets.I also had a stash of goodies at the old house,but now I could not keep a single ring pop in my room in fear of him raiding my cabinets for candy.By some Miracle,when I was 13,our dad got a massive promotion and we moved into a more spacious 3 bedroom with an extra space with a window that is technically an attic.I moved in there,and life was back to normal.
Please never pair children that are drastically different ages.
Also you'll have trouble getting children to share it the had their own room until then.
Best of luck.

Far worse to have the boy and girl share than the 14 year old girl share with her 6 year old sister.

PP here.
Forgot to mention a few other things wrong with such an age boundary.
I had a radio but I could hardly use it because my mom thought the songs I listened to were not 'appropriate' for a preschooler.
I had similar issues with posters and any figurines too.If they had violence or something on them i could not put them up.
Had a few incidents of him stealing money,and he once defaced one of my model airplanes,and damaged others.
If I left any crayons or markers out,he might draw on the wall,or on a piece of furniture.I always got blamed for this.He
He threw more toys than fits (He threw a lot of fits.)
I once bought a brand new alarm clock and the day after,he has dropped it on the floor,destroying it.
Even more fits.
Lack of closet space.
My friends i had over frequently tripped over something he left out.

2 ½ years of this.
Older children need their own space.

It really sounds like you had a parent problem.

Same gender siblings share the room, even with an age gap.

A six year old girl going into 1st grade is going to have none of the issues you listed that your preschool 4 year old brother had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go back to 1989,when I was 11 years old.I had a brother who was 4,and a sister who was 6.Up until then,we each had our own room.Dad gets job in city,and homes are more expensive there.Money is tight,and we needed to move quick.We settled for a 3 bedroom 2 bath.Unfortunately I got the short end of the stick and had to share a room with my 4 year old brother.The room was only slightly larger so we don't have much of a size advantage.To add to it,Our view was blocked by the neighbor 's oversized tree,while our sister had a most oh unobstructed view of the nearby downtown skyline.other minor things about our room were inferior,but I won't go into much detail.
The living hell starts.
My brother is naturally nosy,so you can imagine it got worse when he was in the same room as me.He had playdates,and each week or two,he and his manlet friends tore up the room,knocking my figurines and model aircraft off the shelves,getting notebooks and other personal items strewn across the floor,and messing my bed up.Worst of all,I had to clean up the whole room.I talked to my mom about this,and she tried to fix it.Her solution was to put duct tape in the middle of the room as a divider,but these are 4 year olds.Meanwhile,my sister had her own space that stayed nice and clean.She always went there for privacy,while my only private spot is a makeshift tent i made out of blankets.I also had a stash of goodies at the old house,but now I could not keep a single ring pop in my room in fear of him raiding my cabinets for candy.By some Miracle,when I was 13,our dad got a massive promotion and we moved into a more spacious 3 bedroom with an extra space with a window that is technically an attic.I moved in there,and life was back to normal.
Please never pair children that are drastically different ages.
Also you'll have trouble getting children to share it the had their own room until then.
Best of luck.

Far worse to have the boy and girl share than the 14 year old girl share with her 6 year old sister.

PP here.
Forgot to mention a few other things wrong with such an age boundary.
I had a radio but I could hardly use it because my mom thought the songs I listened to were not 'appropriate' for a preschooler.
I had similar issues with posters and any figurines too.If they had violence or something on them i could not put them up.
Had a few incidents of him stealing money,and he once defaced one of my model airplanes,and damaged others.
If I left any crayons or markers out,he might draw on the wall,or on a piece of furniture.I always got blamed for this.He
He threw more toys than fits (He threw a lot of fits.)
I once bought a brand new alarm clock and the day after,he has dropped it on the floor,destroying it.
Even more fits.
Lack of closet space.
My friends i had over frequently tripped over something he left out.

2 ½ years of this.
Older children need their own space.

I shared a room for 6 years with my only sibling.
Technically,Same gender children should share a room,but it might of been better to just have a bigger house.
I had an atari growing up and my little brother (who was also 4) threw one of his toys in anger right at it.
There went $150 in birthday and allowance money.
I had to deal with some of your issues for 6 years.
Luckily I have not had to mess with room sharing since we have two kids in a 3 bedroom house.

[Anonymous]

To the last two posters, what was wrong with your parents?

We shared four girls to one room and although we bickered we had none of thos issues you are complaining about.

My kids have shared rooms in various houses we lived in, and again, none of those problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the last two posters, what was wrong with your parents?

We shared four girls to one room and although we bickered we had none of thos issues you are complaining about.

My kids have shared rooms in various houses we lived in, and again, none of those problems.

I'm the poster who I started this.I
What were the age diffrences?
A kindergartener and preschooler in the same room might work,but there will be several issues if you try to pair a high schoolers and a kindergartener.
How big was the room anyway?The room i shared with my 4 year old brother was pretty small,and there was not much closet space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the last two posters, what was wrong with your parents?

We shared four girls to one room and although we bickered we had none of thos issues you are complaining about.

My kids have shared rooms in various houses we lived in, and again, none of those problems.

I'm the poster who I started this.I
What were the age diffrences?
A kindergartener and preschooler in the same room might work,but there will be several issues if you try to pair a high schoolers and a kindergartener.
How big was the room anyway?The room i shared with my 4 year old brother was pretty small,and there was not much closet space.

Room was about 10x12 at most with a small walk in closet.

4 girls

Ages:
4
6
9
13

We shared for 6 years.

My boys shared rooms in various age combos. The biggest spread was age 5-6 sharing with age 10-11.

My nieces share from ages 4-9-14 to now ages 8-13-18.

It is far better to for the same gender kids to share and an older, almost teen brother to share with his young elementary sister. The girls will be fine sharing. Unless there is something not right with the 6 year old sister, she will not be acting like a just out of diapers 4 year old boy. The girls sharing is the only option that makes sense here.

Your experience is making you illogical.

And really, all the things you mention have very little to do with the age difference and almost exclusively indicate a parenting issue

[Anonymous]

Three beds in one room and the second room becomes a play and study area.

[Anonymous]

I was the girl between 2 boys - they were 5 years apart and always shared a room. That was middle class life in the 1970s, and no one thought it was an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three beds in one room and the second room becomes a play and study area.

NOT!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the last two posters, what was wrong with your parents?

We shared four girls to one room and although we bickered we had none of thos issues you are complaining about.

My kids have shared rooms in various houses we lived in, and again, none of those problems.

Agree. Kids share rooms all over the US and the world and it shouldn't be a problem. My two brothers shared a room when they were 3 and 13 until my older brother went to college. Zero issues - even today, they don't think it was a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Same sex kids share. Unless you have a teen and two toddlers. Then the toddlers can share until the teen goes to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the last two posters, what was wrong with your parents?

We shared four girls to one room and although we bickered we had none of thos issues you are complaining about.

My kids have shared rooms in various houses we lived in, and again, none of those problems.

I'm the atari guy.
I might need to elaborate on the incident.
So,growing up,I had a ton of blocks.When my brother turned 3,they were his.So one day he made a large tower out of the blocks,and I was in a rush.I tripped over one of the extra blocks that were sitting out,and went head first into the tower.I got up,but he was angry.He had trouble sleeping the night before,and he unleashed his crankiness on me.He threw a large block at me,and I ducked,but it ended up hitting my brand new atari console,damaging the insides beyond repair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the last two posters, what was wrong with your parents?

We shared four girls to one room and although we bickered we had none of thos issues you are complaining about.

My kids have shared rooms in various houses we lived in, and again, none of those problems.

I'm the atari guy.
I might need to elaborate on the incident.
So,growing up,I had a ton of blocks.When my brother turned 3,they were his.So one day he made a large tower out of the blocks,and I was in a rush.I tripped over one of the extra blocks that were sitting out,and went head first into the tower.I got up,but he was angry.He had trouble sleeping the night before,and he unleashed his crankiness on me.He threw a large block at me,and I ducked,but it ended up hitting my brand new atari console,damaging the insides beyond repair.

That's a parenting issue not a room sharing issue. No toys in bedroom would solve that. Your parents should have replaced the console.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the last two posters, what was wrong with your parents?

We shared four girls to one room and although we bickered we had none of thos issues you are complaining about.

My kids have shared rooms in various houses we lived in, and again, none of those problems.

I'm the atari guy.
I might need to elaborate on the incident.
So,growing up,I had a ton of blocks.When my brother turned 3,they were his.So one day he made a large tower out of the blocks,and I was in a rush.I tripped over one of the extra blocks that were sitting out,and went head first into the tower.I got up,but he was angry.He had trouble sleeping the night before,and he unleashed his crankiness on me.He threw a large block at me,and I ducked,but it ended up hitting my brand new atari console,damaging the insides beyond repair.

You aren't getting any sympathy on this board. You should have changed your gender in the story.

Frankly, I agree--too big of an age gap, would have made much more sense for the 4 and 6 yr old to share a room than for you and the 4 yr old to share. But I'm alse European, not American. Americans are weird about that.