How many kids to a bedroom?

[Jryanbass]

I am thinking about putting all 3 of my boys in one room. The two older boys currently have the master bedroom, and its HUGE. DS3 is 15months, and all he has is a crib and dresser anyway. I was thinking about putting him in with his brothers. The bedrooms in this house are VERY small that is why the boys have the master, so there is enough room for both beds and their toys. What do you think? I was thinking of turning DS3's room into a school room.

 

ETA: my boys are 6, 3 1/2 and 15 months.

Edited August 15, 2011 by Jryanbass

[Lily_Grace]

How old are your kids?

 

If one of them is 5 or older, I say no way. The play can be so different at those ages and it helps to have space kept separate from monster toddler fingers.

[Veritaserum]

We've put as many as three in one room.

[JudoMom]

My oldest and youngest share a room, and my middle three share a room. We moved into this house 2 weeks before youngest was born, and oldest really wanted to room with him. We periodically ask if they want to switch around, and everyone likes this arrangement.

[mirandahoops]

I think it would work out ok for you. I have the same situation. Kind of. How old are your older boys? My two older boys are 8 and 7, and I have a 12 month old. The older boys share a room, and the little guy is in my bedroom, but we're thinking about opening a wall in between 2 back bedrooms (the older boys are in one, and the other one is just used for storage right now) to make it one big bedroom for all of the boys. I think it would work for us now, but I'm not so sure if it's a good idea for when they are older. In a few years my then teenaged boys probably won't want a little guy in their room. Of course, if you put them all together now, you would still have the option of putting the schoolroom back as a bedroom again later if it didn't work out. :)

[ChristusG]

I would....as long as you can get them to sleep at night. That's the problem I have with my two girls. I can't put them to sleep in the same room or they never go to sleep.

[MamaAkins]

We have three girls in one room...and it's not even the master bedroom (meaning it's not a huge room). They are 14, 7, and 4. We have a loft bed for our oldest, with her desk and a bookcase underneath it. Her dresser is at the end of her bed. Then my other two have bunk beds on the other side of the room. There is a small dresser between the two sides of the room (it has my 7 year old's stuff in it). The two older girls split the closet. My youngest has her dresser (an armoire) in our master bedroom. My son (age 10) has his own room since he's the only boy...but it's the smallest room. We don't anticipate moving anywhere bigger, so the kids are going to have to make these arrangements work. My oldest will probably only be living at home for another 4 years until she graduates.

[minuway]

Right now I have three sleeping in one room - dd6, dd4, and ds 3. Ds 15 months sleeps in the other room, although ds3 has his toddler bed and toys in with his brother, the baby waking him up at night was a problem. The girls' room has a bunkbed, and I just tuck an extra crib mattress under the bed to pull out at night for ds3. It is harder to get kids to sleep with more than one to a room, but in time they learn what is acceptable (as in everything, you have to be consistent with whatever correction you use). I let me kids read/look at books with little book lights after lights out, that seems to help keep the chatter down.

 

If someone gets really crazy at bed time, I put them in my bed to fall asleep, then transfer them later before I get in bed. Usually this is the 3 year old. It can work!

[Elisabeth in IL]

I've had all three of my boys together in the same room in the past. It has worked out well. With one that has moved into teenagerhood, I don't know if it will continue to work.

[ashfern]

We have a three bedroom house. The secondary bedrooms are tiny. Our 3 girls share the master bedroom. I use the huge walk-in closet as their playroom. Our only problem is that we can't put all of them to bed at the same time because the youngest likes to play. The older two go to bed first & then the little one usually falls asleep on the couch much later. She still naps so it's not so bad that she's up later.

[DawnM]

My 3 boys share a room. I have actually tried to get them to separate and may end up forcing the issue soon, but right now they share.

 

The reason I am looking at forcing the issue is because they talk sometimes until MIDNIGHT and it is dang near impossible to get them up in the morning.

 

Dawn

[ktgrok]

My concerns are that the youngest will be going to bed too early, when the older two want to sit and read or whatnot in their room, and that the toddler will have easy access to toys that could be swallowed. And that the toddler might break the older kids toys. And that the toddler would steal their pencils and draw on the wall. That kind of stuff. My toddler is NOT allowed in my 12 year old's room at all because of all of those reasons. And somehow she still pooped out an airsoft bb the other day.

[wapiti]

I have three in one room, two in another (baby is still by herself in a third bedroom, though at 2 I guess she's no longer a baby). We do not keep toys in the room. The older kids read in the family room, living room or kitchen, and change into pajamas/brush teeth on the first floor before going up to bed, so that they do not turn lights on. It has worked very well for us.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I had to share with my 2 younger sisters growing up. The issue I had was that they would giggle 1/2 the night. The other 1/2 my youngest sister snored loud enough that I could barely sleep(she had tonsils out at 11). I didn't mind the toys or even the lack of privacy, but the lack of sleep nearly did me in. I failed at school and was miserable. So my suggestion is as long as they sleep I would think they could share a room for quite awhile. To keep the elders toys from being broke/eaten try keeping them in a high place where the little's can't reach.

[Tarreymere]

I've had six in one room (two bunkbeds and a pullout queen size mattress under one bunk), but the room was small and just for sleeping (not hanging out in, that was what the living room was for) and we didn't have many toys in it. We did have two dressers in it and some shelves for clothes as well as the closet. Sometimes a couple of them would play in there, but not often.

 

The older kids sit and read at night in the living room after the younger ones are in bed. Then they would be very quiet when they went in to go to sleep. Any toys or belongings that could be a hazard to the littler ones were kept on the shelves in the two upper bunks or in the living room up on a higher shelf of one of the bookshelves. All board games are kept in the living room. We also did not tend to buy toys or things with a lot of little pieces that could be a hazard to the younger kids, the older kids understand that and it isn't a problem. We have never been into having a lot of commercial toys anyway. My kids are ages 27 down to 4.

 

I guess you would want more space if you expected your kids to play in their bedroom and spend more time in the bedroom as a kind of living space. We like to have our kids spend their time in the living room with the rest of the family, even if they are a bit noisy. My kids don't need absolute quiet to read or sleep, and they are very democratic about choosing entertainment and taking turns. I have a big laundry basket in the living room that we toss toys into at the end of the day.

 

Oh, and I have ten kids. Right now I have four at home plus two grandkids I am raising for awhile, and they are split between two small bedrooms.

Edited August 15, 2011 by Rainefox

[Old Dominion Heather]

My three have always shared a room and have never wanted not to share. They share toys. We didn't let the little guy play with the legos til he quit putting things in his mouth, so most of the baby toys were kept downstairs. Once he could go up and down stairs alone and quit putting stuff in his mouth, it was great!

 

They have three beds but right now the two younger are sharing the double bed with ds12 in one of the bunks.

[oraetstudia]

We have three girls in one room and will have three boys in the other room once I move my littlest out of his crib.

[LibraryLover]

How many walls do you have?

 

http://coreasotropa.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/bunk-bed-ii.jpg

[chickenpatty]

We have 3 boys in one room, and 3 girls in another. They know no other way. :)

[Pamela H in Texas]

Our toddler, 3 and 4 yr olds are all in one normal sized room.

 

Our girl room only has one kid right now (baby is with us); but we can have up to three in there.