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Would you have kids share a room?

iqrt's picture

I have a 5yo step daughter and a 17 month old girl. The 5yo has visitation with us, so for the most part, she's only sleeping here 4 nights a month (EOW). Right now, each of the kids has their own room.

I am considering making a sleeping room for both of the kids and a play room. Right now most of their toys are in the living room and the constant tripping over toys and cleaning up toys is driving me nuts. We're trying really hard right now to encourage both of the kids to share, so I don't really want to put the toys in their individual bedrooms. The toys need to stay in a shared space.

Does this work? Are they too far apart in age to share a room? Is the fact that the 17 month old is here all the time, and the 5yo is only here 4 nights/month going to cause issues?

For what it's worth, I know the 5yo shares a room with her 2yo half-brother at her mom's house, and I guess it works. Although they only have a 2 bedroom apartment, so they kind of have to do it that way.

iqrt's picture

My 17 month old is better at sharing right now than the 5yo. My daughter freely hands over her toys to anyone who will take them, and the 5yo is fantastic about taking toys from anyone and everyone.

The only toys that the 5yo has that I don't want my 17month old to play with are her legos, and I would have to find another solution for that one. But honestly, the 5yo would rather play with the baby toys, and my 17 month old would rather play with the 5yo's doll house. Go figure.

Our.blended.7's picture

I say go for it! Put the legos in a tote that are only played with when the baby is sleeping or it can be supervised. I have a huge age differance too and my girls do fine.. They are 8 and 15, and they handle it with great respect.