Siblings are the greatest gift that our parents gave us. It is a bitter-sweet relationship that we share with them. One moment we want to strangle them to death and the very next we are singing duets together. They are the only enemy you have that you cannot live without. Brothers and sisters are the truest, purest forms of love, family, and friendship.
But with the increasing modernity, siblings demand their personal space at home. They are unwilling to share their things. Earlier people had four to five kids, and sharing room amongst siblings was more of a necessity than a choice. Sharing room with siblings was what we used to enjoy rather than considering it an abomination. So the question is it so dreadful to share rooms?
Sure there will be times when you want your alone time and silence around you. But apart from that, sharing your room makes siblings bond with each other in a better way. It teaches the kids a lot of important life lesson too. They learn to be patient and understanding. It prepares them for the future where they have to share their personal space with a roommate in the dorm and later with a spouse after marriage. Sharing their room will give them some advance hands-on experience. Lets read some ways in which you can make your kids share their room.
#1. Make Personal Space For Each Child
One of the main reasons that make kids not want to share a room is lack of privacy. This is not a major concern when it comes to toddlers and kids. But teenagers do want their own personal space, and that makes them not want to share a room with a sibling. If lack of privacy is the problem for your kid, you can make a personal corner in the room for your children to which only they have an access to. Now it depends on you and the size of the room as to how you segregate the things. The easiest way is to buy two of everything; two beds, two tables, and chairs, two almirahs, etc. If you want to extend this, you can even hang a curtain in the middle of the room which can be shut whenever the kids want their privacy.
#2. Respect Different Sleep Schedules
This is another major reason why kids do not like sharing room. They all have different sleeping schedules which might make them not want to sleep in the same room. Do not expect the kids who share a room to sleep at the same time especially if they have an age gap in them. Your toddler might be sleeping at 8, but the teens will stay awake till 10. Respect their sleeping pattern and do not force your decision to shut down the lights of the entire room at once. Instead, you can buy bedside lamps for the children to have the light on their side when lights are turned off by the other.
#3. Buy A White Noise Machine
Children make all sorts of noises while sleeping and can disturb each other while sleeping. The snoring, the coughing, and babbling can make the other stay awake for the night. The White Noise Machine can nullify those noises and give a better sleep to the kids. They will not hate sleeping in the same room with this. They will have a deeper and peaceful sleep which will make it easier for them to share the room with siblings.
#4. Be A Strict Parent
One of the things that get affected by siblings sharing room is their sleep. If they are too young, they will not want to go to bed at all. The room will become their playground, and they will keep playing with each other. This will make your life as a parent difficult when their sleeping schedules get affected. So make some plans which make the kids get a proper sleep without disturbing each other. You can make one of them go to bed earlier while the other finishes school stuff. Then put the other kid to bed when the first one is dozing off. You can devise any such strategies which work for you to make kids share the room.
#5. Do Not Take Sides
There will be times when the kids who share the room will be arguing about sharing things and space. They will be having disagreements with each other from time to time. That is part of their learning to adjust with each other and get to learn to cooperate. Do not pick sides whenever they fight about something. Stay neutral and ask them to forgive each other. But stay out of their matters as much as you can. This is will make them realize the importance of each other's company. They will eventually miss talking and will solve their quarrels. This can be an important part of their growing up where they learn the significance of relationships.
#6. Make Them Go Camping Together
If nothing seems to work to make the children stay together in a room, you should make them realize how fun can it be. You can try taking them to a trip together and go camping out with the family. Make the kids share all the tasks there. Ask them to pitch the tent together and then share it for the night. They will be enjoying the entire experience and will know that their sibling can be a good company to share space with. They will be more willing to share the room after this. This trick can just work like a miracle to the stubborn little minds.
#1. The Feeling Of Security
Sleeping alone can be difficult for some kids and sharing rooms can make that easier for them. It is good to know that someone familiar is sleeping close. So when you wake up from a nightmare in the middle of the night, their presence feels comforting for you to go back to sleep. The silent companionship can make the kids go to sleep faster than they usually do. Not only that, sharing rooms also make them habitual of sleeping with weird noises of each other in the room. The siblings can be building blocks for each other when they share space together and grow up learning from the other.
#2. Builds Better Communication
Children soon start learning to love each other's company. They can play together, listen to music or even talk about their things. This all happens without the interruption from the parents. They create their own world in their little space and become the master of that world. This kind of bond makes them grow friendships with each other along with being siblings. You should tell your kids that sharing the room will make them even the best of friends with each other.
#3. Teaches Problem Solving
Sharing the room makes the children more understanding. As compared to living in the room alone where they do not have to cooperate about anything. Fighting about their issues is very natural when siblings share the room. But over the time, they will come to a truce where they each get a part of what they want. This is very basic but effective problem-solving skills that they develop in their childhood. Kids learn to be not selfish when it comes to making sacrifices for the happiness of the other. They also learn to sort out things amongst themselves without the involvement of a parent.
#4. Makes A Good Bond
When you live with someone for a major part of the day, you start noticing their habits and moods. After some time, you can tell whether the person is happy or sad just by looking at their face. This makes the kids empathize with each other and create a good bond. They can lighten up each other's mood easily after that. They also learn to respect each other. They learn to do things for the happiness of the other. This is a life lesson they can only learn by sharing the room with each other.
Hope you liked our suggestions? If there is anything that you have to convince the kids to share the room, feel free to write it down in the comment section. We and our audience will be happy to read your point of view as well.
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