Siblings will get into squabbles with one another many times, although, a lot of the time, a sibling is someone to hang out with and play games with. A shared bedroom will help your children bond quickly and teach them to share from an early age, as they will be used to sharing a bedroom.
I thought that I would put together a list of tips for putting together a shared child’s bedroom:
1. Invest in Single Beds
While bunk beds are super convenient for twins or children that frequently have sleepovers, they may not be great for children of different ages. The older children are likely to grow out of the bunk bed first, and they may hate sleeping in the bunk bed the closer they get to their teenage years.
The best option would be to invest in two single beds with two single mattresses from the start, as you will probably end up investing in two single beds eventually anyway. This way, each child can choose their own bed and their own mattress based on what is comfiest for them and there will be no arguments over who gets the top bunk.
2. Let Both Children Add Their Own Stamp
There is no point painting the whole room blue if one child hates that colour. Let both children have a say in how the bedroom is decorated let them add their own little stamp to it. This ensures that a little bit of personality is shown in the bedroom.
Some fun examples could be to let each child choose a section of the wall to decorate themselves, whether this is by letting them paint it their favourite colours, put up posters of their favourite TV shows or by decorating it with stickers– as long as mummy and daddy are ok with this!
Tip: When putting posters up, ensure children do this with Blue Tack and not glue so that it can be easily taken down when the children decide against it.
3. Let Children Have Their Own Area
As mentioned, a shared bedroom is a great way for children to bond, but like anyone, they may need some space from time to time and who can blame them?
A good way to add individual space to a bedroom would be to give them a specific area of the bedroom that the other sibling isn’t allowed to go in. This can be done by giving them their own desks that they are in charge of keeping tidy, or their own play areas on the floor at opposite ends of the bedroom.
4. Plenty of Storage
One child comes with plenty of toys and clothes, but two children come with a whole bedroom full of stuff. It is important that the bedroom has plenty of storage to ensure both children have places to put things and to ensure that they’re able to keep their bedroom tidy.
A great idea would be to add shelves to the wall, as they are the perfect way to hold books and ornaments without taking up any floor space.
5. Set Rules
Rules don’t take the fun away – if anything, they improve the fun by avoiding arguments and bad behaviour (you know you’re a parent when you use sayings such as this).
By setting rules at the beginning of the bedroom creation such as asking before touching anything that doesn’t belong to them or asking them not to enter each other’s personal areas, then this will limit squabbling and create a happier environment.
