At what age is it no longer appropriate for children of the opposite sex to

B

b2bMarch

New member
share a bedroom? Is it ever? I thought it might be okay during toddler-hood, but possibly preschool and certainly kindergarten and beyond is a little inappropriate. What do you think?
 
I think that families sometimes do what they have to do. If there are more children than there are bedrooms, then kids have to share -- and if the gender mix isn't convenient, that may result in boys and girls sharing.


I shared a room with my brother into my teen years. It wasn't ideal, and it certainly wasn't something I would have chosen to do -- but there wasn't really any choice. 4 kids, 2 kids' bedrooms, and neither bedroom large enough for 3. So until my older siblings left home, I shared with my younger brother.
 
I don't know if I'd personally do this, but I had two older brothers who shared a bedroom, and then I had the other room. My parents had another baby boy when I was 6, and his crib went in my room. He stayed in there with me until he was about 3, I think (which made me around 9). That was when the oldest brother left the house & he could take his spot the 'boys' room.

As a child, I don't remember ever feeling weird about it.

Now that I'm a parent, I'd probably say age 3 or so would be my cut-off (for which ever sibling is younger). The parenting books I have say that's the age when it's best to try and stop the naked-parent-viewing as well, so I kinda put those in the same basket. It seems like around then would be the age kids would start remembering things, such as watching their big sister changing, or naked out of the shower, which might make life wierd for them.
 
I think that if it's allowable in a house (some people live in places where it's just plain and simply not possible to seperate the genders) then it should be up to the children. As others have pointed out all they really do in there is sleep, most kids don't really care about privacy until they start puberty. If the kids are younger than I'd say about 9 or 10 then it's up to them, their comfort levels. If they want to seperate then seperate, if they don't want to seperate I don't see why it would be inappropriate to keep them together. Again that's IF it's possible to seperate genders in the house.
I also don't see what's so awful about just stepping out of the room when one of them wants to change etc. my sister and I did that when we shared a room being the same gender. It's not that hard.
 
My daughter was around 5 when she started saying "Privacy please." I think they'll likely let you know. Thing is, all they are doing in there is sleeping. If they take turns changing, then there really shouldn't be a problem until they are a little older.
 
My kids are ages 3 and 12 months. They currently share a room because our bedroom is downstairs, and the one they're in is the only other one downstairs. We weren't comfortable letting our daughter be up there alone until recently...and we just haven't moved her to her new room yet. I think it shouldn't ever really be inappropriate. Maybe not enjoyable or the most ideal circumstances...but not inappropriate. Hec, in much of the world, it's not even an option. But, I think it to be best for opposite sex siblings to not share a room past 10 or so.
 
My daughter was around 5 when she started saying "Privacy please." I think they'll likely let you know. Thing is, all they are doing in there is sleeping. If they take turns changing, then there really shouldn't be a problem until they are a little older.
 
I think around 6 is a good time. I had to share a room with my brother until then and it wasn't weird for us. I think it varies state to state though.
 
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