Who should share a room?

[silverblack59]

My husband and I have 4 kids. Three daughters (7,5,2) and a son that’s 6 months old. We just purchased a spacious 4 bed, two bath home. Our issue is that we don’t know how to arrange the rooms. Who should share a room? Does our son automatically get his own room because he’s the only boy? Prior to moving our son slept in our room, but shared a closet with our oldest. How would you arrange the rooms? All advice welcomed! We want to be as fair as possible.

 

[mom22feb]

@silverblack59 7 and 5 together and 2 and 6 months together leaving room if one needs to be alone

 

[oleks]

@silverblack59 7 and 5 share a room, 2 and baby share a room when baby is sleeping through the night and 2 knows not to climb into baby’s crib or put anything in there. For a few years, you can have a guest bed/office/whatever.

Baby boy can go into his own room when ages dictate such ie 5yo is at the age where she’s wanting more privacy from boys. That will likely coincide with 7yo hitting puberty and wanting her own space away from annoying younger sibs so 5 and 2 can share a room or 2 can go into her own room cause 5 will go through the same puberty crap wanting to be away from little sibs only a couple years after 7 and you only have 3 rooms for 4 kids.

 

[nickblessed]

@silverblack59 The parents sleep with the baby and the kids get their own room until the baby is a toddler then youngest shares a room with second youngest. That seems like the best arrangement, imo.

 

[kingdomkings]

@silverblack59 Seven and five together, two and baby together once baby is sleep trained, weaned from the bottle/night feeds, and you’ve cold turkey-d the pacifier.

And once your toddler knows not to put anything in the baby’s crib, even if they are trying to be helpful.

 

[seeker47]

@silverblack59 We are in a similar boat. Four kids. Three boys and the youngest is a girl. Ages 11, 10, 6, and 4.

The two oldest boys have always shared a room. The youngest boy gets his own room and the girl gets her own room.

To us it makes sense because the youngest boy still naps on the weekends and the older boys don’t. Then I’d hate to have the girl share a room with her stinky brothers haha. But she naps everyday and she doesn’t go to school yet so she can have her sleep schedule uninterrupted.

 

[jespy]

@silverblack59 Personally, I'd do the 7 and 5 year olds together for now, since their bedtimes are likely the closest. I'd keep the 2 year old and the 6 month old in their own rooms for now, just cause they're likely to have the most different sleep and awake times from the older two.

You can always switch it up later, but that's at least how I'd start it.

 

[everitt_mcgill]

@silverblack59 I have the same amount of bedrooms and the same amount of kids, 3 oldest are boys and my youngest is a girl.
My oldest (8.5) has his own room, my two middle (7 and almost 5) bunk together, and my daughter (2.5) is by herself. The two who are together have the biggest room and bunk beds. It works great.

 

[%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A6%D7%A8%D7%99]

@silverblack59 Have you asked your kids if any of them want to share?

My 5 and 2 year old want to but we don’t let them because they wreak havoc when they wake up in the morning.

We had 2yo and infant together until 2yo learned to climb out of the crib, then swapped him into his own baby-proofed room with a toddler bed and put 5yo in with the infant.

Sometimes 5yo chooses to sleep in the play room instead. But generally she prefers to share with a sibling.

 

[katrina2017]

@silverblack59 For now, all three girls can have their own room and keep your son in your room since it's likely he's still waking through the night. Give it six months and see what things look like after that. There's a chance one of the kids wants to share a room. Also keep in mind these room assignments don't have to be permanent. Kids move rooms all the time and they might go through that as they get older.

 

[anushagupta]

@silverblack59 How do the 2 year old and 6 month old sleep at night? My thinking is that it might be disruptive to put those two together if one or both of them have nighttime wake ups.

If I were you, I’d give the seven year old her own room, have the 5 and 2 year old share, then give your son his own room. You can definitely reevaluate as time goes on! There’s nothing wrong with opposite genders sharing a room at this young age imo, my only concern would be nighttime wake ups and/or keeping each other awake at bedtime.

 

[mark_ward]

@silverblack59 I would give the oldest their own room, have the 5 & 2 yo share a room, then the baby his own room. If there is a size difference in the rooms, the 2 sharing should get the biggest.

 

[madeofclay]

@mark_ward This seems like the best option. It’s what I would do. I wouldn’t want the baby disrupting others sleep, and the eldest gets her own room. They tend to have the most responsibilities, so I try yo give the eldest perks like that.

 

[quirkycanuck]

@silverblack59 My parents were in this situation. Boy got his own room because he was a boy. Two girls shared and one had her own room. The girl who got her own room rotated every six months. The room switch day was also an excuse to deep clean those rooms twice a year.

 

[ajewlinhiscrown]

@quirkycanuck Genius!

 

[katrina2017]

@silverblack59 I would let the son have his own room not because he's a boy, but because he's a baby and he'll likely wake up in the middle of the night, and wake up whichever sister he's rooming with. Or they'll wake him up.

You can always have them switch rooms later once he gets older.