Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3 kids in a 3 bedroom. All the kids share a bedroom (7 boy, 5 boy, 2 girl). Girl will move to her own (smaller) room in a few years.

Where do you put all their clothes? I have 2 kids sharing a room and it's tight with all their things. I can't imagine adding one more. Do you have creative storage systems?

I have two IKEA dressers. Boys share the dresser in the bedroom and have bunk beds. Girl has clothes in the dresser in my office. That was where her changing table was too. We don't have many toys in the room and there is a closet and built ins for outgrown clothes. As soon as DS2 outgrows clearly boy clothes they are given away and the boys are close in size, so we have way more storage space than 2 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should each have their own bedroom. Otherwise don't have that many kids. You can't afford it

I totally agree

Kids are entitled to privacy.

I’ve never understood why people equate privacy with kids having their own room. It’s odd. You can have privacy in communal situations.

feel blessed that you can even have more than 1 bedroom. my aunt and uncle slept in the living room of their apartment and 3 kids slept in room. 14 yo girl slept on full bed with 9 yo sister and 12 yo brother got his own twin bed. eventually sisters got a twin bed.

I saw a post like this where the middle was a boy and the oldest and youngest were girls and so far apart in age that it might be awkward for them to share a room but having the middle boy share a room with the youngest girl also was awkward. I hope that makes sense.

a guy I dated in college was 20 and shared a room with his 11 year old brother. he had a 18 yo sister. always by gender when people have enough rooms. if not all siblings in one room with bunk beds.

Anonymous wrote:Interesting article about room sharing:

“ The irony, experts in child psychology and social development say, bedroom may not be such an awful thing. In fact, it may be better for some children, in some circumstances. They can learn valuable skills, including the ability to share, compromise and develop a sense of closeness with others.

“A strong argument could be made for shared living arrangements based on how peer relations facilitate social, moral and intellectual development,” says Martin Ford, senior associate dean in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and an expert in child social development.

“He says that a private bedroom may help some children develop independent living and autonomous coping skills, but the prevailing wisdom is that even in homes with bedrooms galore, some children just might be better off sharing.

“Parents would be wise to observe their children, talk with their children, and do some informal experimentation to try to address what kind of living circumstances would best match their child’s personality and developmental needs,” he says.”

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-16-hm-sharing16-story.html

I can’t find anything at all that suggests it’s bad for a kid.

It would be “politically incorrect”.

Anonymous wrote:3 kids in a 3 bedroom. All the kids share a bedroom (7 boy, 5 boy, 2 girl). Girl will move to her own (smaller) room in a few years.

Where do you put all their clothes? I have 2 kids sharing a room and it's tight with all their things. I can't imagine adding one more. Do you have creative storage systems?

3 kids in a 3 bedroom. All the kids share a bedroom (7 boy, 5 boy, 2 girl). Girl will move to her own (smaller) room in a few years.

Interesting article about room sharing:

“ The irony, experts in child psychology and social development say, bedroom may not be such an awful thing. In fact, it may be better for some children, in some circumstances. They can learn valuable skills, including the ability to share, compromise and develop a sense of closeness with others.

“A strong argument could be made for shared living arrangements based on how peer relations facilitate social, moral and intellectual development,” says Martin Ford, senior associate dean in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and an expert in child social development.

“He says that a private bedroom may help some children develop independent living and autonomous coping skills, but the prevailing wisdom is that even in homes with bedrooms galore, some children just might be better off sharing.

“Parents would be wise to observe their children, talk with their children, and do some informal experimentation to try to address what kind of living circumstances would best match their child’s personality and developmental needs,” he says.”

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-16-hm-sharing16-story.html

I can’t find anything at all that suggests it’s bad for a kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have five bedrooms but my boys (2 and 4) share a room. They are BFFs.

But they wont when they are older. come on.

I would have died and gone to heaven to have a sister 2 years older or younger and share a room! My brothers shared a small Cap Hill room until college. Don't forget kids can sleep on couch, floor etc when relatives come and need a guest room. I'm honestly a little shocked at the responses suggesting it's somehow not ideal to have two same sexes sharing indefinitely.

Same. I can’t tell if it’s privilege or a terrible childhood experience, but regardless it’s, well, wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have five bedrooms but my boys (2 and 4) share a room. They are BFFs.

But they wont when they are older. come on.

I would have died and gone to heaven to have a sister 2 years older or younger and share a room! My brothers shared a small Cap Hill room until college. Don't forget kids can sleep on couch, floor etc when relatives come and need a guest room. I'm honestly a little shocked at the responses suggesting it's somehow not ideal to have two same sexes sharing indefinitely.

NP. I'm honestly a little shocked that you'd kick your own child out of their bed to sleep on a couch or floor (!!?) so that someone else can sleep in their bed.

If you want the person in your house so much, you should give up your own bed for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should each have their own bedroom. Otherwise don't have that many kids. You can't afford it

I totally agree

Kids are entitled to privacy.

+3

Truly, you could just as easily say they are entitled to a lifestyle that doesn’t spoil them.

Giving them their own bedroom doesn’t necessarily spoil your kid and making them share doesn’t deny them the privacy they absolutely need. They might not like the situation but there is a difference between want and need.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have five bedrooms but my boys (2 and 4) share a room. They are BFFs.

But they wont when they are older. come on.

I would have died and gone to heaven to have a sister 2 years older or younger and share a room! My brothers shared a small Cap Hill room until college. Don't forget kids can sleep on couch, floor etc when relatives come and need a guest room. I'm honestly a little shocked at the responses suggesting it's somehow not ideal to have two same sexes sharing indefinitely.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should each have their own bedroom. Otherwise don't have that many kids. You can't afford it

I totally agree

Kids are entitled to privacy.

+3

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should each have their own bedroom. Otherwise don't have that many kids. You can't afford it

LOL, this is so... well, a-lot-of-things-centric.

That’s an excellent way to put it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should each have their own bedroom. Otherwise don't have that many kids. You can't afford it

Agree. Hated sharing a room as a kid. I’m an introvert that needs space. Don’t force this unless your kids want to share rooms.

Well some of us would have taken the sibling over the shared room in a heartbeat. Kinda hard for a parent to gauge the child’s preference before birth.

That’s why you purchase a house that’s got enough bedrooms for everyone. Kids can share if they want or choose not to.

Nope that is unnecessary.

NP. We have plenty of bedrooms but our kids (middle schoolers) do not have a choice. They will not live with us forever (hopefully), and I want them to know how to live with other people. Too many kids I’ve met in college and now do not know how to cohabitate with other people. Neighbors have 1000-1500sq ft per person in their homes. The kids fall apart have to share dorm rooms. It’s ridiculous. Sharing a room now is not a guarantee that they’ll get along with future roommates / housemates but I hope it will make the transition out of the family nest easier.

+1

OP, I could have written your post, word for word. Just had our first baby in Nov and this has been plaguing me.

I like the response above. I will add another point (or rationalization ha) about needing to have kids share a room in order to get to our desired family size a f still have room for family (all of whom live out of town and it is no fun to have people stay at a hotel!): I suspect if the family home is less spacious and provides less private that boomerang children will be less likely.

Anonymous wrote:They should each have their own bedroom. Otherwise don't have that many kids. You can't afford it

LOL, this is so... well, a-lot-of-things-centric.