Do your kids share a room?
I grew up with my own room and it was nice to have a place to call my own, to be able to shut the door and with it, the world. It could also get lonely though. Many nights after I was supposed to be in bed asleep I would sneak into my brother’s room and we would play.
My kids share a room. All three of them now. We live in an old house, a 1925 bungalow that someone else enlarged before we bought it. We technically have 4 bedrooms, but we use one of them as a family room. My husband and I have a bedroom downstairs and there are 2 bedrooms upstairs. One of them is for the boys; the other is my husband’s office and a guest room. The upstairs bedrooms are enormous. The boys’ room has perpendicular bunk beds, a crib, a train table, a dresser, 2 book shelves, a standing cabinet, multiple toy bins, baskets and rocking chairs and still has plenty of room to play in. I worry a little about their lack of privacy, but not too much. Each older boy has a cabinet that is all his to put away anything he doesn’t want the other one to play with, otherwise everything else is shared.
For the most part, I think the boys love sharing a room. After we put them to bed they play and talk and sometimes fight, but they have each other. Sometimes it’s tough, like when one has a sleep over, or one is taking a nap and the other wants to get something from the room, but generally it works.
Last night for the first time the baby slept up there with them. We have been trying to get him up there all week and despite napping there without a problem he wouldn’t sleep all night there. I also didn’t want to let him cry it out because the school bus comes at 7:00 and the other boys need to get their sleep! The stars must have aligned last night because it all worked.
The older boys quieted down while the baby fell asleep and were thrilled that he was up there with them. It’s so sweet to watch them all together….until it devolves into fighting over who gets to make the baby smile….but last night it was sweet.
I hope they won’t resent us someday for having them all share a room, but I think (hope) the bonding is worth it.
What do you think?
