My sister and I shared a bedroom until I was 10 years old. I distinctly remember writing a letter (in magic marker--but in a very authoritative green magic marker) to my parents, enumerating the reasons why it was time for me to have my own room. I wonder if my parents still have the letter because I would love to know what some of my big concerns were. In retrospect, I loved sharing a room with Par. With the imminent arrival of my third baby and no plans to expand our home or move anytime in the near future, it is an absolute certainty that my three monsters will be sharing a room for some amount of time. And I'm almost jealous of them, and the closeness the proximity will breed. In thinking about this, I found myself wondering whether sharing a room was at all Indian? Did you guys share a room with your siblings? Will your kids share a room?
I came across this OhDeeDoh spread on creative ways to design shared rooms and I got even more jealous--how cool are some of these rooms?
For more inspiration, check out this and this.
Deepa is a wife, mother, writer and she sometimes masquerades as a lawyer as well. She revels in friendship, humor, champagne, and laughing at herself--often. She never ever reads US Magazine, thinks Rushdie is a genius, wishes she could write one sentence as funny as "Arrested Development," and lives in the Bay Area with her motley crew. She can be reached at deviswithbabies@gmail.com
oh wow i LOVE that loft bed/puppet theater! i want it for MY room!
yup shared a room with my sister till i was in high school and definitely an indian thing or at least my parents thing because we had enough room in our house for both of us to have our own rooms. haven't realy asked them why they insisted and we never really wanted to leave each other's company till later anyway! really hope my kids feel the same way but it will be different since i have a boy and a girl.
We are dealing with this now. We are lucky enough to have room for the baby to be in her own room and my 3 year old to keep his space. But part of me wants them to be together? And its probably because i grew up that way. Agree it's an Indian thing. My mom and dad each grew up in one room with all their siblings.
it is my greatest desire for my children to be close, as children as adults, forever. why not start them on the right path?
i so wish i could share a room with my sister again! the giggling the flashlights the waking each other up at night. non stop slumber party right? now she lives half way across the country and phone calls ahve to suffice and i suppose our husbands wouldnt like us bunking together!! but yes my childhood memories are all wrapped up in sharing a room and sharing a life with my sis.
where is all the STUFF in these rooms?????? storage storage storage that is what i need. any tips???
wow those nurseries are amazing! agree with TJG that they are unrealistic in terms of clutter but it is a mgazine spread! love how the first one looks so modern and open even though it has two cribs in it. def good ideas.
I had my room, but still would sleepp in my brother's room. He had a bunk bed, so we always had the option to share- the best of both worlds... You definitely don't have to be the same gender in order to share rooms!
totally agree with the above poster. my brother and i shared a room till i was 9 or 10 i think and then i guess my parents thought a girls hould have her own room? i don't know, come to think of it--i will ask them what they thought. but every night i would sneak back into my big brother's room and make him tell me stories!
i really think it's great for children to share a room for as long as they want to. what better way to foster closeness right? plus then all the toys and crap can be quarantined to one place!
I would love more instruction on how to build a loft space if you have any!
I have kids who are a little older but still share a room because they love it together! At this point I worry that I might have to separate them so that they actually sleep instead of yapping away all night. We haev the room but they don't have the desire for "personal space." I think the idea of "personal space" and "privacy" is distinctly Western and I assumed they would want it, but so far nothing has come up.
My two kids are going to share a room...but it doesn't look anything like those rooms that's for sure! How can you do things like that on a budget? I am useless at home decorating.
This actually prompted me to call my mom and ask her why she was so resistant to my sisters and I sleeping in different rooms. We grew up sharing a room until I was 7 or 8 but some of my earliest memories are of my older sisters begging for their own rooms and I started asking for it too since I wanted whatever they wanted! And we did have enough space, too.
My mom said she didn't remember us begging for our own rooms! She said we always loved sharing a room! She seriously claims NO MEMORY of us pleading to have separate rooms! Classic!!!!!!
Yup..shared a room with my PARENTS till I was about 9 years old (Definitely Desi Behaviour) and then my sis moved out. We divvied up our stuff and she moved across the hallway, only to reappear a couple of hours after bedtime and sneak sheepishly into her old bed :) Pattern continued for a while. I have 2 girls now and as soon as my little one is weaned, will have them both in a room together.
Anu
PS: Love this blog. It's now the first thing I check every morning.