Janna Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 I have two boys who are going to need to start sharing a room. The oldest is 7.5 and the youngest just turned 1 last month. We are in a 3 bedroom home, which means up to this point, the baby has been sharing dh and my bedroom. We're ready for him to move out, LOL. So I have some questions. What is the best way for this transition? What are the rules, if any, that should be established for the older boy? How does naptime/quiet time work? Baby still takes 2 naps a day. The morning nap is not a big deal - we're doing school then anyway. But the afternoon nap is when we have quiet time for *everyone*. How can I have them both be in there, ensuring that the baby is sleeping while other ds is in there too? He likes to listen to books on CD while he puts together legos or plays with GI-Joe's. It wouldn't be fair of me to ask him to be absolutely silent, you know? Would he just have quiet time in a different area of the house? It's a small house and an open concept house so it would be difficult for *me* to have quiet, but I guess something's going to have to give to make it work, right? What happens when baby wakes up from teething pain or something in the middle of the night and wakes brother too? Will big brother just get used to it eventually? Any tips you can give me on having siblings share a room would be much appreciated. This is totally foreign to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 Up until about 2 years ago, my youngest and oldest son shared a room. There is a 12 1/2 year age difference. They have always been very close, so when it was time to move him out of my room, my oldest ds insisted he move in with him. Youngest was only 18 months old at the time. During nap time, oldest ds just stayed out of the room. When youngest ds woke at night, ds got up to comfort him, give him a drink, changed his diaper, etc. To this day if my youngest son wakes during the night or has a nightmare, he goes and gets in the bed with my oldest. They are very close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iquilt Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 My girls have shared a room since the youngest was a baby. When she needed a nap but I needed everyone to have quiet time, I would let my oldest use my room so that everyone had their own space while I read a book on the couch in the living room. That way the needed naps happened. My oldest wasn't napping at that time so she would either look at books in my room or listen to CD's. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquirrellyMama Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 My three kids share a room. The age difference isn't quite as big though. The oldest and youngest have a 4 year diffrerence and there is one in between. Our kids haven't had problems with having a baby in the room with them. One kid doesn't wake up for anything and the other didn't seem too mad about it. I would always try to go in and get crying baby before it had a chance to wake the kids up. I didn't always make it in time. Kelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cougarmom4 Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 For afternoon naps, I put my little one down in a pack-n-play in my bedroom--that way dd10 can still play in her room (especially if a friend is over). I think it's been good that this one is used to sleeping in a pack-n-play so when we go on trips, it's not so unusual to her. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaOz Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 One of our bedrooms has dd14, dd12 and dd6 and it works just fine. I think that the kids learn to adjust around each other, and it really teaches them to share and think of others.:) The other room has dd10, dd9 and ds4. 4yo still has a sleep sometimes in the afternoon, and the others have learned to be very quiet when he is sleeping. They can have their own quiet time on their beds quietly, or find another quiet area somewhere else in the house. One of my dd's loves to read in the car when it is not too hot.... Maybe another idea would be to have your older son have his quiet time on your bed - my kids think that is a treat!!! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 I have two boys who are going to need to start sharing a room. The oldest is 7.5 and the youngest just turned 1 last month. We are in a 3 bedroom home, which means up to this point, the baby has been sharing dh and my bedroom. We're ready for him to move out, LOL. So I have some questions. What is the best way for this transition? What are the rules, if any, that should be established for the older boy? How does naptime/quiet time work? Baby still takes 2 naps a day. The morning nap is not a big deal - we're doing school then anyway. But the afternoon nap is when we have quiet time for *everyone*. How can I have them both be in there, ensuring that the baby is sleeping while other ds is in there too? He likes to listen to books on CD while he puts together legos or plays with GI-Joe's. It wouldn't be fair of me to ask him to be absolutely silent, you know? Would he just have quiet time in a different area of the house? It's a small house and an open concept house so it would be difficult for *me* to have quiet, but I guess something's going to have to give to make it work, right? What happens when baby wakes up from teething pain or something in the middle of the night and wakes brother too? Will big brother just get used to it eventually? Any tips you can give me on having siblings share a room would be much appreciated. This is totally foreign to me! We share rooms - one room for four out of the five girls and one room for the two boys. The girls are 2, 5, 7, and 13. The boys are 4 and 10. If your little boy can't be quiet enough for baby to sleep, then he gets his quiet time elsewhere - your room, a corner of the living room, wherever. Just be consistent and insist it's quiet time. :) Naptime or quiet time in the girls' room - older girls are expected to be QUIET. If you're old enough to read, you read. If you're old enough for phonics lessons, you have your lesson first, THEN you look at books or just lie quietly. If you're not old enough for those things then you nap. There are no exceptions. Quiet time is up to the individual parent. In our home you nap or you read. If you can't be silent and read for that long, then you're little and you need the nap. If you can, then it's a privilege. But, then again, we don't do fair. :) It's a choice and a 7 year old is old enough to have that choice - quiet or sleep. But, again, that's what works for us. I'm not much use on the baby part as our little ones don't move from Mama nad Daddy's room until they are big enough to sleep through the night. They do naps in our room on our bed. They move out of our room around 18 months or so and by then they're sleeping solid. If someone needs help, a bigger kid comes and gets us. The transition? It was easy. It was considered a blessing to share a room, not something to be concerned about or for parents to feel apologetic over. The catch 22 was teaching our little ones to respect the older one's things. She (13yo) has things that are special - her camera, books, lip gloss, et cetera. Everything has went swimmingly with the exception of the two year old and the lip gloss. Sigh. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnointedHsMom Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 My 10 year old son and 3 year old son share a room. We also have quiet time after lunch while 3 year old naps. 10yo must be quiet in the living room. No problems at all for us. They have shared a room since the 3 year old was born. I would just have quiet time for the older child in another part of the house. HTH, Paige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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