When you’re strapped for space in an modern apartment home, it’s necessary to double, triple, or even quadruple up on kids-per-room. It can be easy to just throw in a couple of bunk beds and call it a day, but if you want the transition to go smooth and your children to get along, you’ll have to utilize a few creative solutions. Read on for a few tips to keep your home happy when shared space is a subject of contention.
Keep Bedtimes Age Appropriate
While it can be tempting to send all the kids to bed at the same time for convenience and to avoid waking the younger kids, it’s not fair to the oldest. If you’re sending your toddler to bed at 7, you can let your older child stay up an hour or two longer—otherwise, they’ll start to resent sharing the space. Plus, that extra one-on-one time with their parents can be beneficial to their growth.
Division is Key
You want to keep your kids bonded, but if everything in the room is shared, it will push them apart. As your kids grow older and start to express unique interests, you’ll want to create a barrier to help separate belongings and keep nighttime chatter to a minimum.
A wide bookshelf secured to the ground is a good option—it creates a library and toy storage for one child and an open-faced area for the other where they can have a chalkboard or clothes hanging space. A track system or curtain (for older kids) can also create a cute barrier between belongings.
Keep it Serene
While you’ll never have a dull moment with multiple kids in a luxury apartment, it’s important to at least keep their room peaceful during nap or bedtime. Low lights set the mood for winding down, while a white noise machine can promote sleep and prevent conversations that might otherwise last well into the night.
Get Them Involved
If you’re coming from an apartment where room sharing wasn’t necessary, or a new addition is pushing two siblings together, they can be resentful or grumpy about the situation. Asking your kids to help decorate and furnish the room can help make it feel more like their own. Let each child pick a reasonable color for a wall mural or a piece of furniture, or let them pick a favorite family picture or piece of art to hang on the bedroom wall.
