I watch a lot of HGTV, and it seems almost universal that people want houses with enough space for all kids to have their own bedrooms. 'Cause, you know, a 3 bedroom house isn’t big enough for a family of 4. :rolleyes:
I’m the oldest of 5. By the time I was 11, the last of my sibs was born. We lived in a 3-bedroom rowhouse (they didn’t call them townhouses in those days.) I have a sister 15 months younger who was my roomie for over 18 years. I didn’t have my own space till I was 21 and signed my first lease. (No, I didn’t live at home till then - I enlisted in the Navy and had 2 or 3 roomies for the first 2 years.)
I’d have loved my own room, but it wasn’t going to happen. So I had my own bed, two drawers in the dresser, half a closet, and my own shoe shelf. My sister and I were (still are) *very * different, but it didn’t really matter - she and I had to share the room, so we did. But having my own space was always a cherished dream.
As a point of reference, I’m 53 now.
So, how about you? Any sibs? Did you have to share a room with a sib? For how long? How did it work for you? Did it warp you for life? And how old are you? (I wonder if it’s a generational thing…)
Only child here so no room sharing. It’s made me very protective of my personal space now, and I still want a place to retreat to to be alone on a regular basis.
Never shared a room with my sister. I’m glad I didn’t- I suspect one of us would have killed the other at some point if we had.
When I do have kids, I plan to stop at 2, because that will give each of them their own room, we won’t have to move again, and we’ll still have a guest room so nobody has to give up their room when guests come (I hated that when I was a kid).
I’m 39, and never shared a room. My parents bought a 4-bedroom house somewhere in the neighborhood of my conception or birth to hold me and my three brothers, who are six or more years older than I am. (Our age span is 39 - 51 years.)
Mom and Dad obviously had one room, I had another, but I’m drawing a blank on the brothers - two of them had to share a room for a while, but I can’t recall which two, or how long it lasted before viable threats of murder. When we were growing up, we were a four-way Odd Couple and I can’t imagine any of us willingly sharing a room with another.
At some point, a small room in the basement was fitted out to be another bedroom, so for a while, all the kids had their own room. Then, the oldest moves out, followed shortly by the next going off to college. Now, Mom just rattles around in a 4.5 bedroom, 2.5 bath house on her own.
My brother and I shared a room once, for about a year. I must have been 9 or so, and he was 3 years older. Bunk beds, tiny room. But since all kids had to do in bedrooms in 1955 was sleep, it wasn’t a problem. No TV, no game console, no phone, just beds and a chest of drawers, and a toybox. You go to school, play outside, do homework at the kitchen table, and go to bed.
I have 4 kids, 3 boys and a girl, and 2 of the boys had to share a room after the youngest was born. I don’t think it warped them. They’ve lived together a couple of times since and get along pretty good. Again, no TV, game consoles, phones.
My kids didn’t spend much time in their bedrooms until their teens, when their taste in music started to develop. There was pop and country in one room and acid rock in another.
Oldest of five kids, with one sister, in a two-bedroom house with a second floor that was essentially one large room. Obviously, my sister got the second bedroom, and the second floor was divided into separate areas for each of us boys. My section was one side of the room, and I was able to partition it off a bit with my dresser and bookcase. After spending four years away at college I moved back in with my family and into my old space. Within a year my sister got married and I claimed her room by right of seniority until I finally got my own apartment.
I’m 55, my sister is 53, and my brothers are 51, 46, and (almost) 43.
Well, of course, that’s how I see it, but the people on TV act as if it would be unthinkable not to have a guest suite, and a living room, formal dining room, family room, exercise room, media room, butler pantry… well, OK, so maybe these aren’t normal people.
I’m 35. I have three older and two younger siblings, but the age gap is large enough that we never had more than four kids living in the house at once (oldest went to college before second-youngest was born, etc.).
I shared a room with my brother who is two years older than I am up through high school. At first we shared one out of necessity, but later when we’d moved and had more room, we shared it by choice; one of us could have moved into the basement, but we liked hanging out with each other, so we shared a bedroom.
We lived in a 3 bedroom house. So with six people living there together we all had to share at one point or another. Let’s see…
From ages 3 - 7 I shared a bedroom with my brother. It was okay. Y’know, no complaints. Then at 11 my brother was deemed old enough to have his own room, so I shared a bedroom with my sisters from the time I was 8 til 14 when my brother moved out. Though instead of me, the lone male child, getting a room to myself, the newly vacated area was given to my older sister instead. I had to bunk with my younger sis’ until I was 16.
I know some people are weird about opposite genders sharing bedrooms, but I was fine with it and so were my sisters. The only annoying thing was the constant lack of privacy, the borrowing of clothes, and the mess. I don’t care what anyone says, teenaged girls are WAY messier than boys.
I shared a room with my brother (just over a year younger than me) for several years - from ages 5 until 10, iirc - possibly when we were younger, but I have no memories earlier than that. After that, we always lived in houses with enough rooms for us both to have our own - even when we moved back into the house where we shared (my grandparents’ house), there were fewer people living there (enough to fewer free up a room), so we had our own rooms for that few months.
Having to share made me rather protective of my privacy once I got out of that situation (unfortunately, nobody else in my family learnt to respect it. >_<)
I shared a room with my sister up until I was about 15 and my dad turned his study over to me as a bedroom. My brother is the only boy so he didn’t have to share.
I guess I could have spelled out the details of our living arrangements.
When I was 4 or 5, with a sister and a brother, my paternal grandparents had to come live with us for a while, so they got the room I had shared with my sister, and the three of us kids were crammed into one bedroom (the room was about 7X9 and it held bunkbeds and a crib.) The grandparents eventually returned to their home, and when I was 7, my second sister was born. That meant J & I shared the larger bedroom, and my bro and newest sis had the little room. Just before I turned 11, Mom was pregnant again, and Dad built a small room in the basement. If the new baby was a boy, I’d finally get my own room in the basement. But, of course, it was another girl, so my bro got his own room. Lucky duck.
First training command in the Navy (after boot camp) I had 3 roomies. Next school, I shared with one (very weird) girl, then on to San Diego, where I again had 2 roomies, but only for4 months. Then I got my own apartment, and life was good.
I share a room with my husband now - I don’t mind at all - he’s a good roomie.
We had four bedrooms (smallish ones) and one small full bath on the second floor. So yeah, bro and I each had our own room. The fourth bedroom was our toyroom, with guest foldaway bed, record player, games and table for us to color at. I realize it was generous of our parents to let us have free run of the extra room, but we also had to keep all our toys up there.
I do wonder at the HGTV families who somehow need bigger houses when they still have extra rooms in the ones they’re in. Clear out some clutter and they’d be fine.
I’m 46 and one of five kids. In the earliest house I can remember, one sister shared with me, the twins (girls) shared, and my brother had his own room. The next house, I had a room, the twins shared, my oldest sister took the tiny maid’s room on the third floor and my brother (oldest of all) took the huge old nursery, also in the third floor. When it was very cold my oldest sister would sleep with me, because there was no radiator in her room. When my brother moved out, the twins took the nursery. We slept wherever we were told to and never thought anything of it.
I’m 52, second of four kids; I have three sisters. My folks rented a 2BR house shortly after I was born, then added another sister. The three of us shared a bedroom till my third sister was born when I was six. For a while, the girls shared the bedroom; I’d go to sleep on my parents’ bed; when they went to bed, they’d move me to the living room couch.
When we moved to a 2BR apartment, they stuffed a bunkbed, bed and couch into one room, and I got the couch. That was 4th grade through 6th grade.
Then we rented a 2BR house; baby sister in one, parents in another, the two older sisters and I got the basement. (We built 1x2 framing, covered with corrugated cardboard salvaged from shipping boxes.)
So that spelled the end of shared rooms, as we each got a chamber of our own to decorate as we wished - WOW! (Except my folks wouldn’t let me paint my room flat black and speck it with white paint for stars…dang.)
I’m 55, the oldest of 5, and only girl. So, I almost always had my own room! There were a few times when I had to share with two of my brothers (sometimes the older pair, less often the younger pair - they are 52, 51, 46 and 45), but it was never for very long. Mind you, I always wished that at least one of them had been a girl so I could have a sister, but come to think of it, that would have meant having to share my room!! I greatly enjoyed having my own space, let me tell ya.
