Often, when parents are moving to a new house with young children, they reach a point where they need to decide if their children will share a bedroom or sleep in separate rooms. Your budget will go further will one less bedroom. However, you want to ensure you are doing the right thing for both children.

What factors will go into your decision? And what do you need to bear in mind when deciding on your children’s sleeping arrangement? Here we will try and break down the decision and explore the four factors that should influence the outcome. For more information and removal assistance, head to Matco movers.

 

 

The biggest factor behind any parent’s decision on whether their children will share a room or have their own room will likely be space. It is no coincidence that in New York, where space is at a premium, two-thirds of families with children under the age of 18 have their children sharing a bedroom.

 

The space available will ultimately play a big role in whether or not the children sleep in the same bedroom. But there are other things to consider before you accept that your property is too small to let them sleep separately.

 

 

Parents often overlook the fact that some children are better suited to sharing a room than others. If a sibling is particularly guarded and introverted, lacking self-confidence or assertive qualities, they may not want to share their personal space and may need the security and privacy afforded by a separate bedroom.

 

Alternatively, on the other end of the scale, if the two children are exceptionally extroverted and chatty, sharing a room often does not work. They may talk deep into the night and see their sleep patterns disrupted.

 

There are ways to set clear boundaries and routines for bedtime to stop this. However, if you don’t have the inclination or time to instil them, it may be preferable to separate the children at night if possible.

 

 

When a child begins going through puberty, sharing a room with a sibling of the opposite sex will make them uncomfortable. Often the child will alert the parent by asking for their own room and more personal space. You should absolutely listen to these requests. If giving them their own rooms is not an option, find a way to divide up the existing room with curtains to give each child their privacy.

 

 

Children of different ages need different amounts of sleep. If your children have significant age gaps, this can pose a problem if they are expected to share a bedroom with their siblings. Generally, children of similar ages and at similar stages of development are better equipped to share rooms. They are more likely to go to sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time, leaving less margin for lights-out arguments.

 

While there are no hard and fast rules for when to place children in separate rooms, these four considerations should help the decision-making process for parents.