Yes, it was.
I thought those beds looked pretty cool, myself.
I think I may have made a nest in my closet at some point as a child. I **do **know I used to read in there.
Hmm. I definitely prefer to have a blanket on me even when it’s kind of warm, so in that sense I like nesting, but the idea of being in a really small, dark space totally skeeves me. Anyone else?
Maybe small, enclosed spaces make her feel more secure. Like swaddling a baby, for example. I never had a closet big enough to sleep in: otherwise I may have tried it. I did read in the bathtub, though.
It sounds like a normal part of development.
Yeah, that’s what we’re thinking too, which is why we aren’t too concerned.
Believe me, we’d love to redo her room into a cave or whatever motif she would like. But unless HGTV sends someone over and pays for it, I don’t think that’ll happen.
The bed tent sounds like a nice compromise. She had one of those bed canopies for kids for a while, but she didn’t really care for that. Maybe we’ll talk to her about the tent.
That’s a classic Scandinavian bed. My grandfather was Norwegian, and had a pretty substantial library of Norgefile books, so I’ve been fascinated by this bed design since I was a little kid. And reading Sigrid Undset as an adult, hearing such bed cupboards described as part of the daily life of medieval Norway, I’ve planned for years to build such a thing next time I felt like I was gonna stay in one place for a while.
I wouldn’t allow it to continue. Start doing the math, and you’ll learn that the CO[sub]2[/sub] level will rise more than OSHA work limits.
I agree with other posters, it’s probably a kind of a “fort,” for her.
As long as there donesn’t seem to be fears that require her to do this, I wouldn’t worry. I mean if she simply sees it as “A cool place to hang out,” let her.
I used to sleep in the closet. Admittedly a lot of the time it was because my bed was covered with all the stuff I picked up off the floor and hadn’t finished putting away. Also my closet was huge and the half I was sleeping in was also my library so…
Closets are very comforting spaces, closed in and dark without being scary (usually).
If mine weren’t filled with luggage and purses and move in boxes I’d be tempted to sleep in there myself. 
The closeness of the walls in the closet give a feeling of security. Ask her if she wants to re-arrange the furniture in her room. Maybe put the bed in a corner so she has only 2 open sides.
Or take her camping, who knows, kids just do things and they don’t all have a serious meaning.
Okay, somebody tell me what TV show I’m thinking of, where we see a girl’s bedroom several times over the course of (I think) a few episodes, usually with her on the phone with a friend (the star of the show, I think). The bedroom is all funky and cool. Then a friend comes over to visit and we are shown suddenly that what we had thought was her bedroom is actually just her closet and her actual bedroom is very sedate and un-lived-in.
Anyone?
snerk
Once upon a time, in college, I slipped down between the bed and the wall.
I stayed there until my girlfriend’s aunt left…
Ask her is she wants to invite her five year old friends for a sleep over party in her closet.
I used to hang out in my closet all the time when I was young. The pipes for the shower ran through the wall between my closet and the bathroom on the other side. I found the combination of the closed in space and the sound of the water in the pipes very comforting. Now I look back and think: pseudo-womb? I think kids her age find themselves in a weird place between wanting to go back to womb and breaking out on their own… this is her subconscious way of doing it. She’s still a big girl sleeping on her own, but has that subliminal feeling of security.
Does she like Harry Potter? Maybe you have a future remodeling project.
I think it was Gilmore Girls. Lane (sp) had to hide all the funky stuff and her music from her very straight-laced mom, and had all sorts of hidey-holes and suchlike.
Oh, and everyone know that monsters under the bed are not in the least bit slowed down by boxes of toys stored there.
I would’ve said “sure” as well, and made her a comfy spot in the closet. Why not?
Sometimes our kid likes to sleep with her head at the foot of the bed, and when she came home from summer camp she wanted to continue to sleep in her sleeping bag. We let her, didn’t see a problem with that at all. BTW she is back to ‘normal’ nocturnal habits.
YES! Thank you, that was driving me batty.