Hello Mommas! Right now my husband and I are in the thick of trying to decide whether or not our three boys should share a room!  The three of them (1st grade, PreK, and almost three years old) currently all sleep in the same room, but we are about to move; we figure if we are going to change things up, now is a good time. We know that in many cases, a big house solves this issue on its own, but we’ve decided to sacrifice the luxury of a very large house in favor of a neighborhood that we love.

So, we’ve been going back and forth: to share or not to share? Here are some of our thoughts in the decision making-process:

On one hand, by consolidating, there would be more rooms available in the house for guests, an office, a playroom, etc. However, the space they share will be more crowded.

If the boys share, they will learn to live with someone else and hopefully won’t get accustomed to selfish behavior. On the other hand, when they share, they keep each other from falling asleep and wake each other up too early. If someone has a bad dream or wakes up sick, we run the risk of waking the whole house up in the middle of the night. Please, no.

On one hand, bedtime is a great parent-child bonding time. If the kids are separate, we are more likely to hear what’s really going on in their hearts and worlds. Then again, tucking three kids into bed separately? Heaven help me.

Right now, room-sharing creates a great bond between the three of them. Read, there are lots of shenanigans when they should be sleeping. But, will they need their own space as they get older? Perhaps the ability to retreat to their own space would be healthier for them and foster independence? Perhaps if they were separate genders or if there was a larger age difference, this would work itself out on its own.  But three of the same gender, really close in age? That’s a tough-er cookie.

We’d love to hear from you. Do your kids share a room? Or not? Please, tell us what works for you!

2 COMMENTS

  1. I have this current dilemma too! My youngest is nearing 2 years old and sleeps very well through the night now finally and is about to outgrow the pack and play in our room. The 4 year old has a loft bed and usually zonks out pretty quickly at night (naptime is a WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY) and sleeps until it’s time to get ready for school.

    The four year old starts bedtime at 8 and is supposed to be in bed, lights out at 8:30. He’s usually asleep by 9. The toddler then is put to bed as soon as we’ve tucked in his brother. My guess is that they’d keep each other awake for awhile, but they do like spending time with each other (at least when they’re not trying to kill each other). The bedroom that the oldest sleeps/plays in is small, which is why he has a lofted bed. The plan is to put a crib mattress on the floor under the lofted bed. I want to move the dressers into the guest room/office (which is right on the other side of the kitchen and is VERY VERY VERY VERY noisy and not at all conducive to sleep) so that they have as much space in the current bedroom as possible to sleep and play.

    I don’t know what to do either.

  2. I am so glad I am not the only one playing around with furniture and room-sharing options in my head all day! I will say, I DO love the brother-bonding of them being in the same room. My current decision is to keep them together since they are still young, and then we will reevaluate when they get older!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here