Sharing rooms

[Sasha Rowan]

My 2 ds are 5 yrs. and 3 mo. Ds2 is in our room now, but will be moving in with ds1 eventually. Ds1 currently has a full size bed, but we plan on getting bunks.

Any advice on making the room-sharing work with the 5 yr. age gap?

Dd has her own room for now, she's almost 2.

[TXmom]

It's not easy with a gap that big, but we've done it. Bunk beds are a good idea - that's what we did. We also wanted to decorate for our little one, but it couldn't be too babish for the older child, so we painted the ceiling blue and I stenciled stars on it. We also got each child a set of shelves to hang on the wall - mostly for our older son so he could put his breakable stuff up high. They're the white formica shelves and they look good in kid's rooms.

[Cathy]

When we moved into our first house, several people commented that it was strange that I was having my dds share a room. (We planned to have a guest room--dd3 put and end to that plan.) I always shared a room with my sister. I still like to hear my dds talking and laughing when they are in bed...even though I wish they'd get to sleep! LOL I feel a little sorry for my oldest dd because she's all alone. But she says she likes it. I think sharing a room is mostly a good thing for kids. JMHO

[MaryL]

Our boys have their own rooms (ages 5 and 7)...but have in the past week started sleeping in the same room (bunk beds in that room), just for fun! (We called it a "sleepover" party!) They love it, and I don't mind it...so we'll keep it this way for a while. I'm going to see how things go when school starts, and they need to get right to sleep.

[Jeff]

If the 5 yo is real territorial you could move dd to his room and have them move to a room that hasn't been either one of theirs.

[Diane]

I never minded sharing rooms with my sister until I started getting older and then I wanted more privacy... and so did she. Mom did as much as she could to try to separate us but sometimes it just wasn't enough. I'd get in my sisters way, she'd get into mine. Sometimes it was hard especially when we each wanted to be by ourselves in OUR room. I mostly remember the good/fun times we had though... and those are the ones that stand out the most in my mind. most of the time it was a lot of fun.

We have a 5 bedroom home so our girls never HAD to share rooms but our oldest and middle dd (3 years apart) decided on their own that they wanted to share rooms, so we went out and bought them bunk beds. They actually did really well together for about a year and a half and then my oldlest decided to move her room downstairs for more privacy. She would often go back upstairs to sleep with her sister... and I LOVED listening to them goof around giggeling and laughing. I really miss that! :) As far as any special kind of decorating... we never did anything special for the girls... until they were old enough to CARE about what their rooms looke like... otherwise they were your every day basic bedroom. When I was little (way back when) they really didn't do themed rooms... at least we didn't. I've seen (on the Home and Garden show) that they try to incorporate a little bit of what each of the children like the most... and somehow brought it all together. Looked GREAT! Good luck, I hope you find something that will work.

Diane... :wave:

[Melody]

Growing up I was the only girl so I never had to share a room. But the 3 boys did sometimes have too. They were closer in age though.
What about sports themes? At least then one isn't too young or too old to like baseball and basketball.
If your worried about the age gap, your dd is young enough that I think she could share a room with the baby, at least for a while. Any toys you put in there would be age approp. compared to oldest maybe having some small pieces you would need to watch? Just a thought. Then your oldest ds wouldn't have to worry about things getting broken. Good luck on whatever you decide.

[KarlaB]

Lots of good ideas! My sis and I are 5 yrs apart and we shared a room until I was in first grade. When we moved we each had our own rooms, but I was a big :chicken: and would still sleep with my sister. :) We didn't really have a theme that I remember. Our dks have their own rooms ~ oldest ds has bunk beds and youngest has a queen bed, so I could see them sleeping together at some point.

Good luck!!

[MaryL]

One ds has bunk beds...but we always wanted him to sleep on the bottom! (We'd let him "nap" on the top when he was younger, but I worried that he'd fall off the bed at night!) Other ds has a regular twin bed in his room. They started to talk about wanting to sleep in the same room, so we tried it. So far, so good. They love it! I still think it's too early to change ds's room into my "craft" room....huh?????LOL

[Sasha Rowan]

Yes, I remember sharing a room with my sister even though we had our own rooms. We made mine the toy room.

Jeff
Ds1 is not territorial. He's all for it. Beside dd's room is the smallest one. My worry is wether 6 yrs. will be old enough for the top bunk. And what to do with the toys. Ds1 is getting to the age where he wants toys with small parts.

Melody
I would be terrified to put ds2 in with dd. She is a climber and the first one up. She would be in the crib with him in no time flat. The only reason she stays in her room is because she hasn't thought to pull up a box to climb the mesh gate. Thanks for the idea though.

Maybe I can make a place in the living room for toys with small parts to be played under supervision.

Thanks everyone. :snickers:

[KarlaB]

Originally posted by MaryL
One ds has bunk beds...but we always wanted him to sleep on the bottom! (We'd let him "nap" on the top when he was younger, but I worried that he'd fall off the bed at night!) Other ds has a regular twin bed in his room. They started to talk about wanting to sleep in the same room, so we tried it. So far, so good. They love it! I still think it's too early to change ds's room into my "craft" room....huh?????LOL

Yeah, if you started on your craft room now you just know as soon as it was set up they would decide they'd had enough of each other! :newwink:

[sugarfrankie]

Glad to see this topic. I mean, I knew I wasn't the only one who had to face this, but some how felt that way!

I have a 6 year old dd, a 2 year old ds, and a 5 month old dd. The girls will be sharing a room and I was worried about the gap in their ages. We are pricing bunk beds, but know that we will not need them for a while. I just hope that they don't feel like they are crowded in any way and begin to resent each other!

[Ryleigh]

ds and dd each have their own rooms but will occasionally have "sleepovers" with one another. I suspect there won't be much more of that as dd is gotting older now. We have one room set aside that we are going to begin making the nursery in. All three little tykes will be in there to begin with. Eventually the two girls will keep the room and the little guy will move in with ds. They haven't eve3n arrived yet so that is stilla long way off.:tinysmile :tinysmile :tinysmile

[pumpkin994]

My 2 ds share a room. One ds is 6 and the other is 3.
They do haev a bunk bed and the 6 yr old sleeps on the top. My 3 year old goes up there once in awhile to play.

My only problem is that my 6yr old likes to have time to himself without little brother buggung him. That is hard to do since they share rooms, hard to keep the youngest one out.:wave:

[strawberryfire]

As a child i had b.beds collapse, and nearly crush my head, the same thing almost happened to my aunt, last year, her teenager was sleeping on the top, with her 4yr old on the bottom, she noticed when checking on them one night that the top bunk was at an angle, she got them out just intime, as it would of collapsed that night ( these bunks were less than 2yrs old.)

[RCT]

I shared a room with my brother when we were smaller, we had daybeds.....that joined at the head with a table in the middle....so brady bunch style....it worked for us.....we finally got our own rooms when they remodled out house.....I have fond memories of sharing and then some not so fond....:lol:.....