As last year’s endless summer (March-August) was finally coming to an end, I had a proposal for my kids: What if we moved them all together in the same room and made the other room a school/play room? They could room share!
My reasoning was multifold: I was technically preparing myself for the possibility that we’d be quarantining and needing to do school. I was also trying to save my own sanity by designating a place for school work that wasn’t the same space we used for eating all of our meals. The kids would see it as an adventure and enjoy the perks of a designated playroom. They quickly agreed to the swap even after I required a 4 month commitment (no moving back before Christmas). If that sounds harsh, this seems like a good place to mention that there was an Ikea bunk bed that had to be taken apart, moved, and reassembled so…I said what I said.
As a little background, when we moved rooms my kids were 7, 5, 3.5 – good ages to give this a go. The room sharing went well and even though we are starting the year with my oldest moving back into her own room, I wanted to share some things to think through in case you’ve wondered if this would work for your crew.
-Bedtime: In order for this to work smoothly, you’ll either need the early-to-bed kids to be hard sleepers, or for everyone to be going down at the same time. We do books and bedtime as a family, so this wasn’t an issue but could be, depending on the ages that are in the room.
-Space: If you already have a playroom, the incentive of a designated “kid space” may not be a big deal. We also were given the Ikea bunk bed which enabled us to fit all 3 into one regular sized room. If you are planning on room sharing for long-term or have family or friends that visit often, a trundle bed offers extra beds without sacrificing space.
-Set-up: Since this room was supposed to serve as a school room if needed, we borrowed two small desks to give us a more “school room” feel. We only ended up using the room for school the week before Thanksgiving and my kindergartener preferred using a card table to the desk anyway, so we don’t plan to keep those around.
-Closets: Since we had a toy room, all of our toys went in there. The ‘kid’s room’ only had beds, books, and the boy’s clothes. My daughter kept her closet in the other room since we knew this would be a temporary set-up – and it worked great. If your kids have a lot of clothes, this may be something to think through.
I’m so glad we gave this a chance – the window for us giving this a try and being successful is narrow and I hope my kids can look back on it with some fun memories.
