Hi everybody!
Melissa from CloudMom.
I got such a great question the other day that just, you know, like had me craving to
answer it and it came in from Natalie, and here's what she had to say.
"At what age do babies and toddlers need to have their own gender specific room?"
Great question.
This is something I really have lived with and I'm going to quickly describe to you guys
where we are in my family when it comes to room sharing, because you guys know I have
five kids!
So first I have three boys who are now 10, 12, and 13.
They share a room where they have a bunk bed with a trundle.
The 10 year old is on the trundle every night.
It's kind of a pain because we have to push it in every morning under the bed.
The 13 year old is on the top bunk, the 12 year old is on the bottom bunk.
Now, in that room there's one desk with a chair where I can have one kid doing homework,
there's a bookshelf, there's a big closet where they all have space, you know, for their
clothes but basically we've had to be very minimalist.
I don't have, you know, posters, wall hangings; they each have like two sweatshirts.
We're very careful in terms of stuff because I just don't in an apartment have room for
it.
So they don't really have rooms that are, you know, such that a lot of kids have where
they really have their own real estate or territory which actually could pose it's own
problems but that's what we've been doing thus far.
In the girls' room, very similar, it's an even smaller room.
I have a basic bed with a trundle, I have two IKEA desks where they can draw and so
forth, a small bookshelf and the same big closet where they, I have all of their clothes,
coats, shoes and all the rest of it.
So as of now, yes, I have gender specific rooms but I do have a lot of kids sharing
rooms.
And when we're away because we love to try to travel in the summer because I have a lot
of family in Europe, I'm, you know, Swedish descent, we love to try to travel and we are
constantly sharing them between and among genders.
And I think the way to deal with this is to try to make, you know, that time and bathroom
time the place where, if they're feeling uncomfortable, you know, they change their clothes they go
to the bathroom and they do, you know, get and merit in those rooms some privacy.
So in terms of your question, when do different gender babies or toddlers have to have their
own room?
I guess I would venture to say never, I don't really think it's a must.
Some people will never really have that sort of space, um, but I will say that children
in some ways, a lot of people say they're smarter than us and I really believe that,
and there will come an age and a time where they will tell you that they are not comfortable
with perhaps, you know, other people seeing their bodies, they want some privacy, they
don't want anybody walking in when they're in the shower.
I have some tips like this and as much as we try to focus on manners and everything,
one of them will be in the shower and someone else will come in and it's like 'get out!'
Ahh!
And you know they get really sort of riled up over the whole thing because they really
want their privacy which I think is fine.
By the way, I don't even have locks on my bathrooms which my boys despise because also
we only have, you know, two bathrooms for all of the kids and I just can't have one
kid like locking himself in the bathroom for hours on end because it's a place that we
all have to use.
I can say that in Sweden, people are very flexible about this.
My aunt once told me that once she walked in and there were four of her kids in the
bathroom, one, two boys, two girls.
One was on the potty, one was brushing his teeth, one was taking a bath and the other
one was doing I don't even know what and it was just all calm and natural and normal because
that's how they've grown up and they didn't think twice about it.
But you know what, I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me here, so moms
and dads please weigh in.
When do you think a child should have their own bedroom, or only be sharing a bedroom
with another child of the same sex?
I'm really interested in this issue, would love to hear what you guys think.
Thank you so much for watching CloudMom and I will see you guys soon.