Children Sharing Bedrooms

I know that it’s strange for a web-site dedicated to Renovating, but we would rather not have to renovate at the moment with us expecting our third child. We’ve been looking at different options for preparing out house for child number three,  but with a pregnant wife and a tired husband we would love to find a solution other than renovating our house, again …

One that thing that we have discussed a lot is for our kids to share a room. We have an eight-year old boy, a four year old girl and number three (gender to be determined) on the way. If can figure out a way for the kids to share, then we could avoid, or at least put off, renovating our third house in a row.

Setting Up A Room for Siblings to Share

For us to set-up a room for our kids to share would at least require us purchase some new furniture, and decorate the room in a way that would suit both kids.

The first thing we would probably want to consider, given the limited floor space in the bedrooms, is a bunk bed…

Ikea Mydal Bunk Bed

Your basic bunk bed is a great use of space that basically lets two beds fit where one bed would normally fit. Some of the nicer bunk beds actually separate to make two separate bed, but your basic bunk, like the Ikea Mydal Bunk Bend above, is a single frame. At a cost of only $139.00 CAD though it’s a very tempting product.

Loft Bunk Bed

Some of your fancier bunk beds can include everything from a desk, a dresser and a book case in it. A good example of this is the Ponderosa Student Loft Bunk Bed from The Brick Canada. At a cost of $1,199.97 + tax it’s a fair bit more than the Ikea Mydal option, but it includes the desk, bookcase and a dresser.

Another option that pursued when we were in Townsville was to build a loft bed.

altThe loft bed wasn’t as high as a bunk bed, but it still allowed us to use the storage space under it to put a book shelf and a toy box. The kids also liked to use it as a cubby hole by draping their blankets over the edge to cover the front of it.

There is a whole story behind the loft bed that I need to write about someday, but it eventually involved us lowering the bunk to the normal height of a bed after a couple of “incidents”…

Can  our opposite sex children Even share a room?

The main hurdle that we have come up against in considering if our children can share a room is the law. This is something that we certainly were not expecting to be an issue!

In Calgary, Alberta, Canada it is illegal for a child over the age of eight to share a bed-room with a sibling of the opposite sex.

Well, there goes the plan of our eight year son sharing a room with his four year old sister. Besides the fact that one is a morning person and the other a night owl, this certainly throws a spanner in the works …

Should A Baby Share A Bedroom With An Older Sibling?

Since we know that our four year old girl and eight year old boy are not legally allowed to share a room, should we let one of them share a room with the new baby?

I guess when considering this we need to consider our two children. Our daughter is a very light sleeper, and I think sharing with a baby would be very detrimental to her sleep and and therefore health. Our son is very heavy sleeper, but also needs a lot of alone time, which would be hard if he were to share a room.

So I guess that leaves us with the option of the baby sharing a room with us, or renovating the house. Either option will be hard on our sleep as we’ve found before…

6 Replies to “Children Sharing Bedrooms”

  1. Cl Robinson

    Depends on the sex and age of siblings. Most Newborns sleep in a crib in mum & dads room to begin with.

    If you’ve already got to siblings of the same sex, get them moved in together before baby arrives that way it prevents bad feeling towards baby.

  2. Cl Robinson

    Student loft beds are fantastic, I’ve got them in my kids rooms and even though they’re expensive they’re really worth the expense. Just remember to allow for enough room on each side.

  3. carolyn

    I dont really think that its illegal for children of the opposite sex (siblings) to share a room! you cant help the sex of the child you bring into the world so unless this is something new my son and daughter shared a room when baby 3 came and apart from a few minor arguements they actually had fun on bunks and having someone to speak to at night just before they fell asleep (they feel safer as well)! give it a go and if it doesnt work swap it around!!

  4. Bill Hutchison Post author

    We were surprised, and disappointed, with the law regarding same sex children sharing a room in Alberta, Canada. The law exists for when the eldest child is eight or over, which our oldest kid is.

  5. MarcioWilges

    That really sounds like quite a tough decision that you’ll have to make! What about moving the baby things into your own room for a while? You’re going to need the baby with you for a while first anyway and slowly work up to your kids sharing rooms. Best bet would be to ask your kids how they would feel sharing rooms, you might just be surprised with what they answer!

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