45 Comments

• 1. carole  |  March 15th, 2006 at 11:31 pm

  I can tell you that today, sharing a room led to a GameBoy being thrown out a second-story window.

• 2. the Mater  |  March 15th, 2006 at 11:42 pm

  Don’t go IKEA shopping for those new office supplies and furniture just yet …

  Wait until Sophie figures out that Hannah’s room is actually bigger than hers. Then she’ll probably ask for your bedroom and you and David can move in with the Calico Critters.

• 3. K. Laureen  |  March 15th, 2006 at 11:48 pm

  Room sharing? Come on! Give me something useful like the new study that revealed a direct correlation between the number of older brothers a boy has and the liklihood that he will be gay. Now there is some useful information! Something I can sink my teeth into!

  Well, it is mighty late. Better go tuck my FIVE sons into bed before I get started on that GLAAD application.

• 4. Jane  |  March 16th, 2006 at 1:20 am

  >

  a ha ha ha ha ha. Jenn, you are so funny!

• 5. TRF  |  March 16th, 2006 at 2:59 am

  My brother and I shared a room and, though he snored badly, we ended up very close. Our sister had her own room, causing such envy in us that we used to prop up “rain-down-and-hurt-her” things on top of her door that, when she opened the door would fall and cause her to cede her room to one of us. Never worked. She retaliated by hitting my brother over the head with a toy rifle, and dropping a very, very heavy, library type dictionary on my head, and declaring to our mother “You are not raising these boys properly!”

  My brother and I ended up very close to our sister.

  The moral of the story: studies don’t mean diddly-squat. YOU ARE JUST LUSTING FOR AN OFFICE!

• 6. mom on a wire  |  March 16th, 2006 at 3:02 am

  Can’t argue with THAT now can you? I would like Sophie to conduct all studies from here on out. She is very decisive, yet charmingly amusing at the same time.

• 7. Holly  |  March 16th, 2006 at 8:06 am

  when the boys were younger they shared a room. now at 11 and 12 they for the first time have their own rooms. i think sharing a room nearly led to homocide. my life is more peaceful now that everyone has their neutral corners to go to.

  life, with seperate rooms, is good. now i guess when they grow up and come to thanksgiving dinner i’ll have to deal with spitting. oh well.

• 8. geogirl  |  March 16th, 2006 at 8:44 am

  Being one of four kids I don’t know how I escaped the roomsharing thing but I was lucky. My brothers did have to share,however, and to this day I think they are still bitter about it. You have never seen such arguing and sniping and carrying on. One particularly vicious fight led to a splitting of the room right down the middle complete with an actually boundary line and everything. Yes, they actually took masking tape and placed a line right down the middle of the room. three WHOLE HOURS were spent negotiating the neutral zones that would allow one to reach the closet and the other to reach the exit. The UN couldn’t have done any better.

• 9. samantha  |  March 16th, 2006 at 9:01 am

  My sister and I didn’t share rooms but once in our lives.

  We haven’t talked in a year.

  Sorry to bum the party but I think it would be really helpful if she did share a room. It would help the oldest one to learn to deal with her younger sister (the intruder).

  I’m the oldest sister and I miss my baby sis so much.

  Plus, you could use the office space.

• 10. Lisa  |  March 16th, 2006 at 9:46 am

  You know it didn’t matter if my boys were together or apart…they were still so different from each other that the room wasn’t ever the issue. Their personalities were. If they NEED to be apart then for God’s sake don’t put them together. You’ll regret that move sister! If you had no choice then you’d just have to find a way to make it work with them together. But I would just let it be.

• 11. Spot the Wonder Dog  |  March 16th, 2006 at 9:55 am

  The biggest problem I’ve had with my boys sharing rooms is a “free rider” problem. None of them want to actually clean their rooms, because if any one boy does it, the brother with whom he shares a room gets a free ride. The only thing more repugnant to a child than cleaning their room is the knowledge that doing so would allow their sibling to avoid same task.

• 12. Vikki  |  March 16th, 2006 at 10:22 am

  My son is 4 and my daughter just turned 1. We only have a two bedroom house (though, next month, we are adding two rooms to our house). My son has always planned on sharing a room with his sister for awhile. He is looking forward to it. Even though we are building on, he still wants to share a room. Why? Well, he told us that he would like his sister to get up with him in the middle of the night to look out into the darkness and help him catch people that litter on our street. Ah…true sibling love…

• 13. tina  |  March 16th, 2006 at 10:23 am

  what’s an apgar? is that like a d&d thing? please, help me understand. i am a mere only child

• 14. Erin  |  March 16th, 2006 at 10:26 am

  Well, my little sister and I shared a room for three weeks as children. It wasn’t a good time. Separate rooms were definitely better then!

  And now, as it turns out. We really love each other, but we recently shared a (big!) apartment for three years, and the results of our little two-person study say that it’s not a good idea as adults, either. Not even when the sisters are 27 and 30, respectively. We never drew a line down the center of the apartment, but it really didn’t work.

  Oh well. I bet they’ll still grow up to love each other very much, living arrangements even as they are.

• 15. jennifer  |  March 16th, 2006 at 10:39 am

  you’re not actually worried, are you? my little sister and i never shared a room and i hated her for most of my adolescent years, but now that we’re older (22 & 28) we’re best friends.

  your girls are your girls. they’ll figure out what works for them when they’re ready. the studies can go take a leap.

• 16. jennifer  |  March 16th, 2006 at 10:39 am

  except for the one about chocolate.

• 17. goslyn  |  March 16th, 2006 at 10:47 am

  APGAR are the tests they give babies when they are first born to check on their breathing and general health.

  Don’t worry, you didn’t miss out, oh only child.

  Jenn, that is too funny about Sophie. Sounds like she has a lot of personality, that one.

• 18. Éireann  |  March 16th, 2006 at 10:59 am

  I think it depends ENTIRELY on the personality of the child. At one time or another I shared a room with both of my younger siblings, and we all shared the attic. My entire life. I didn’t have my own room until I moved into an apartment out here (dorms and sharing a bedroom in my first apartment)…I’m very close with my roommate with whom I had to share a room for five years, but my brother and sister? Not so much. I would have KILLED to have my own space. None of us are really close now, superficially, perhaps…and I am getting closer to my sister, but I think that happens in a lot of cases as people grow older…All of us HATED sharing space, and not a one of us would do it again if given the choice. Only we weren’t.

• 19. w.o.p.d.  |  March 16th, 2006 at 11:00 am

  Could you ask Sophie her opinion on the environment and world peace? I’m beginning to really respect this kid’s opinions. And she always has good reasons for her opinions. One’s head falling in their cereal is tough to argue with.

• 20. Deb  |  March 16th, 2006 at 1:09 pm

  I have officially become addicted to your blog and shared it with my friend Melissa-who-never-comments-on- blogs-except-mine- because-I-shame-her-into-it.

  When my kids are little they usually have to share a room at some point or another simply due to space considerations.
  I am like you, I only have a brother whom I adore more than chips and have never shared a room with.

  I say more studies about chocolate!!!

• 21. jbeeky  |  March 16th, 2006 at 1:27 pm

  Coming from a family of five girls and no privacy, sharing bedrooms meant a special place where my sisters would reserve torment that could only be accomplished via closed doors and empty threats of “don’t make me come up there!”. Good times, good times.

• 22. Debby  |  March 16th, 2006 at 1:41 pm

  I really like Sophie’s logic. I have some problems in my life I would like her advice on. Is she available for consultation anytime in the near future? What is her fee structure?

• 23. JenfromBoston  |  March 16th, 2006 at 4:07 pm

  I am 1 of 4 and I off/on had my own room. I landed with sharing a room with my irish twin sister, as we were both older, in high school and could stand each other. The next kid down was 5 years younger, and somehow she got her own room. Bri was the only boy so he got his own rm.

  I am not sure why I didn’t bitch about it (as I was Oscar to her Felix) and youngest sister didn’t do anything to “deserve” it but we just got on and we are infact extremely close to this day (tho I am with all of them). Tho there were fights, negotiations, and me being subjected to having the bed made with ME STILL IN IT (we shared a queen bed ala Little House), but it didn’t suck that bad. it was nice to have someone to talk to.

  I grew up in a neighborhood (south shore of boston) where 4 was the # of kids minimum and nobody had their own room. I don’t know if it made anyone closer but it sure did teach you some skills that you could argue will serve you down the road.

• 24. karina  |  March 16th, 2006 at 4:34 pm

  Don’t cram the girls into a room together for the sake of trying to make them closer. Just wait a couple of years, dress them in the same silly dresses and force them to sing Andrews Sisters songs in front of your friends (and theirs!). They’ll have a strong mutual bond of mortification, and they’ll be united against you. It worked for my mother!

• 25. pixie  |  March 16th, 2006 at 5:18 pm

  you have the funniest readers!!! i have to say funnier than dooce’s! i am going to remember this about five years from now. keep your archives well organized please…..

• 26. margalit  |  March 16th, 2006 at 6:34 pm

  I shared a room with my sister for years. The sister I haven’t spoken to since I had her escorted out of my house by the police 12 years ago. The sister that has never learned my name and refers to me as “That Child” even though I am 53 years old. The sister who is such a bitch she says things like (and I am NOT making this up) “I don’t know anyone that hasn’t had plastic surgery except you” and “You’re just jealous of me because I’m thin and you’re fat” (which were the last words she ever said to me).

  Yeah, that study is a total crock. Find another one or build on an office.

• 27. Dawn  |  March 16th, 2006 at 6:47 pm

  Sophie would like me to convey to you that if you believe everything that grownups say, she has a bridge she would like to sell you. And a Kegel exercisor.

• 28. Barb  |  March 16th, 2006 at 7:00 pm

  Cost of heating your back porch for an office =
  maybe 4 cranberry storm doors!

• 29. Steph  |  March 16th, 2006 at 9:44 pm

  Ditto Spot… Ditto

• 30. Rina  |  March 16th, 2006 at 10:40 pm

  Ok, I need to hear this sort of study, since our 1 yr old son has been sharing my daughter’s room since he was about a month old. It was either that or one of the kids slept in our closet. Anybody else have kids in a co-ed living situation? How badly warped can we expect these two to be?

• 31. Dennis  |  March 16th, 2006 at 10:42 pm

  I do so enjoy your blog and knowing the girls makes it even more fun. I grew up in a top bunk in a very small room and both my brother and I were delighted when we got to move to a divided attic and share a bathroom only. I am with Sophie every inch of the way. Your much too distant cousin, Dennis

• 32. nolamom  |  March 16th, 2006 at 11:10 pm

  Sharing a room is for some children and not others, it all depends on their personalities. Some parents get lucky and the kiddies will bunk together, some of us are not so lucky. Either way, we hope our children will grow up and love each other, and not want to kill each other. hahaha. Never know Jenn how it will work out, unless you try it. Sophie might surprise you if she is at the right age and time and attitude, etc….give it a whirl, you can always separate them later if you have to.

• 33. sogal  |  March 16th, 2006 at 11:39 pm

  as the oldest of five girls (yes!) i was the first one to get my own room - at 13 - and boy did i need it - the next girl was 4 years younger and at 9 and 13 thats a big difference - i had that room until i went to college and then had to share because i didnt live on campus the first year - dont ask - so i shared with the YOUNGEST who was 8 years younger but it was great - i left at 8 am and didnt get home til 12 am.

  prior to 13 we all shared - at one time three of us in one room - the house only had three bedrooms when they bought it and there were three of us and a new baby - so when the next new baby came (the last one) - they always got the room next to the parents and alone - so there were at various times three of us and then four of us in a room together - and sometimes in the same bed . then the parents added on to one small closet to make it the fourth bedroom - and then we were two and two.

  the one big disaster with sharing came one year in college when i was living in the dorm but had a “bed” in a room with the sister who was next (four years younger and in high school still) and she ratted on me to my father about … uhm shall we say a certain birth control issue … which created a HUGE crisis during which at one point i was disinherited (not much money to worry about then but still i was 20!)…took many years to get over that one with that sister.

  now one lives in CA, one in NM and the other two and I live around NYC…. however i am closest to the youngest who lives in the same village as i do - funny how those 8 years mean nothing now….and she is sometimes much smarter and wiser than i am.

• 34. Kris  |  March 17th, 2006 at 8:58 am

  I shared a room till age 5 with my 2 older brothers (10yrs older and 6yrs older)… Then we moved and I shared with only the younger of the two… Then my oldest brother moved out and I finally got my own room.

  Here’s the thing: I’m very close with my brother (6yrs older) and so we talk about being kids in our house a lot. He has no memeory of us sharing a room in the new house. He says he doesn’t disbelieve it, just doesn’t remember… WE SHARED A BED!!!! oh well, apparently I have a “low-impact” personality.

• 35. Jenn  |  March 17th, 2006 at 10:43 am

  You are all just plain great. I love hearing these stories and your feelings on matters like this. I feel like I’m in the middle of wise council of elders, about half of whom are younger than me.

  Kris, “low-impact” personality is cracking me up.

• 36. tracie b.  |  March 17th, 2006 at 12:45 pm

  i didn’t share a room with my big sister, which just added to her list of reasons to be annoyed by me when i insisted to sleep with her anyway…

  tracie b.

• 37. -Blue  |  March 17th, 2006 at 4:17 pm

  I agree that it’s a personality thing. We have limited space here and a small herd of kids (ages 4,3,2,9mos) so they share. Oldest (boy) shares with next (girl) and the two babies (girl, boy) share the second room. So far everyone’s peachy. Two oldest are toilet trained so they have a bathroom. I’ll adjust later as personalities warrent. I will NOT seperate sexes just because (until they are older).

  We plan on one more (our tie-breaker) AND adding more rooms, lol.

  I say if you think that the girls will clash then don’t put them together. If you need that office that badly then let ‘em bunk together and suck it up. nobody will die from having to share.

  -Blue

• 38. mama_tulip  |  March 17th, 2006 at 5:27 pm

  I’ve always wanted my kids to have their own rooms, and right now both of them do. But if I happened to wake up one morning with (another) child, then that child would have no choice but to sleep in a drawer in my daughter’s room. So yeah, I can see them sharing a room.

• 39. the Mater  |  March 17th, 2006 at 9:37 pm

  Rina, my high-school steady had an older sis - just the two of them in a very small house. Parents had the one bedroom; he and his sister shared the other. It never seemed to be a problem.
  Dunraven Mum

• 40. Stacy  |  March 17th, 2006 at 10:15 pm

  I shared a room with my twin sis until we got into high school and then we seperated. She was devastated, but I loved it! Don’t know what that has to do with it, but we are the absolute best of friends now.

• 41. something blue  |  March 18th, 2006 at 6:12 pm

  My cool older cousin moved into my bedroom when I was 11 and she was 16. I loved it but then she went and got pregnant and in turn moved out.

  It brought me closer to my cousin, I learned not to get preggers until much later and I had cool bunk beds to have many sleepovers.

• 42. kris  |  March 20th, 2006 at 7:58 pm

  Jenn, I predict that your girls will be very close. They’ve learned how to love from the very best.

• 43. Janice  |  March 24th, 2006 at 9:24 pm

  My twin sister and I shared a room until we were sixteen. And we now live a block away from each other, see each other every day, tallk on the phone multiple times a day and share a business.

  Our husbands would probably like to go back in the past and force our parents to get us our own rooms.

  (but don’t worry, it is probably the twin thing, not the room thing.)

• 44. 5 Minutes For Mom&hellip  |  March 25th, 2006 at 1:16 am

  To Share or Not to Share

  A funny post in a blog called Breed ‘em and Weep got me thinking about room sharing.
  She talks about studies that say “that siblings who share a room as kids tend to be much closer as adults.”
  Her concern that these studies might then suggest …

• 45. tracey  |  April 26th, 2006 at 6:21 am

  My sister and I never shared a room but was always found in each otheres late at night when we should have been asleep (mad dash as dad came up the stairs) we were neverallowed to hang out together because of the age gap of three years or share friends
  we sadly dont get on at all and many times i have tried to bridge the gap and had the door slammed in my face my dad says ” you never got on as children” I wonder why! I shall not be seperating any of my girls when or if i have them!!! into diffrent room the other room is a study and TV room for them and there friends. I hope to do better.

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