Sharing a Room?

I just recently moved my 20 month old son, Riverson, in to the same room with his 3 year old big brother, Langston, a couple of weeks ago.  We’re in serious preparation for a baby girl, who will be here any day now.  I’m not freaking out about that fact at all.  Not at all.  Nope. 🙂

I had been dragging my feet on making the switch for the boys because I thought the transition would be horrible.  However, I was pleasantly surprised.  The boys did great and we have had very few problems!

I wanted to share some tips with you if you are looking to move your kids in to a shared room and if you have some to share with the rest of us, PLEASE do!

We can ALL learn from each other and our experiences.

ROUTINE

I’ve found that their bedtime routine is more important than ever now.  They know when we go brush our teeth, which they both, fortunately, love to do, it’s time to start winding down and we’re getting ready for bed.

We read a couple of books together and always sing the same three songs together.  They love knowing what to expect and it helps to make me walking out at the end much easier on them.

SLEEP

Unfortunately, one of them will always wake up before the other one and most of the time it involves the other waking up as well.  However, I keep the monitor on in our room, mainly to listen for the baby.  If I hear him, I try to rush in their room as fast as I can in hopes our big boy will stay asleep.

If Langston (3) is the first to wake, he has been very good about getting out of bed and coming straight to our room, without waking the baby along the way.  I think I should be very thankful for that, because I know that is not always the case with other kids in their shared rooms.

ORGANIZATION

When you add another child in to the room, the “stuff” increases and the space decreases.

With same sex kids who are close in age, it might not be that big of a deal, since they are usually playing with the same toys.  However, with older kids, and especially with opposite sex kids who are sharing, it’s so important to make them feel like even though they’re sharing their space, they can still have their own belongings.

One idea is to have different baskets that are color coded for each child.  It definitely helps with clean up! 🙂

ROOM DECOR

If your kids are old enough, try to involve them in the planning and decorating process of their newly shared room.  It will give them a sense of ownership and appreciation for their new room.

PRIVACY

As kids get older, the need for privacy becomes greater.  One option would be to create a partition in the room to make two separate spaces.

Another option would be to give each child their own separate times when they are allowed to be in the bedroom by themselves.

BE FLEXIBLE

Not every night will be great.  My three year old cried for 30 minutes on the first night of their shared room experience.  We had no idea why, especially since he wasn’t even the one who made the change. He was still sleeping in the same room. 🙂  We are always prepared with a Pack ‘n Play in our room in case our 20 month old needs to sleep somewhere else.

Our kids are gradually learning to sleep through each other’s noises, but it took time.  When you expect the transition to be a little difficult, you might be pleasantly surprised when your kids do better than you expected. 🙂

For kids who seem compatible, meaning they share similar activity levels and schedules, sharing a room will more than likely provide them both with companionship.  Many parents claim their kids sleep better when they are sleeping together and I have found that to be true with my boys, so far, too!

As kids get older, though, their privacy and personal space needs will change.  Try to listen to their preferences and find ways to give them the extra space they need.

Do you have other tips that might be helpful for moms looking to move their kids in to a shared room??  Leave a comment.  We’d love to hear them!!

**If you’d like to see more pictures from my boys’ shared room and even see how I made that custom vintage scoreboard, you can find it all here, on our personal blog, Roubinek Reality.