It's not the co-ed, it's the ages that would give me pause. A 6 yr old in school might not want to be stuck with much littler sibs. If he or she is reading, a book at night might be compromised by having to turn out the lights if the younger ones are sleeping.

That's good to hear. I asked the 6yo (who already voluntarily shares w/ 4yo brother) how he would feel 'bunking up' w/ his little sister too if he really wanted to move to this house. I explained that it would only be temporary and he didn't give the idea pause at all.

I think that he's just so excited about the opportunity to have such a big yard to explore and play in w/o constant supervision.

He was w/ me today while I was painting and we even bounced ideas off of eachother about how to decorate the room to include both boys and girl. He came up w/ an enchanted forest idea where they are little forest people and are prince's and a princess. He said we could decorate DD's bed w/ pretty forest stuff.

They all go to bed at the same time w/ group story time. At least so far.

My brother and I shared a room till I was 10 and he was 7. I was on the top bunk and he was on the bottom. We have a lot of fond memories of tormenting each other :) We laugh about it now, but back then, it wasn't so funny, and it drove our mom nuts. She couldn't take it anymore and finally gave my brother his own room and my 5 year old sister moved into the bottom bunk. It was smooth sailing until I was in high school and my sister was a pesky little pre-teen who then drove me nuts. What goes around, comes around-LOL

Love the enchanted forest idea. I always wanted one as a kid after reading the Herself the Elf books.

My dtr and her three brothers shared a big room; they each decorated their own sections the way they wanted. When we expanded the house, the two youngest dtrs shared the room. When we moved and the two girls each had their own rooms, they arranged their beds so they could see each other and talk room-to-room across the hallway with each other; they frequently fell asleep in each other's rooms.

They are all six grown up now, and just last night three of them and their spouses and kids had a sleepover at my dtr's home. They had a blast! Your kids will be fine sharing a room; they'll build friendships with their siblings, even as they squabble.

People did this for decades and decades. It's only in the last few years that anyone has thought about having young children bunk in the same room for necessity's sake. My two youngest were still sharing a bedroom when they were 8 and 6, the boy being older. We then moved into a house differently oriented and I put the two girls together (9 years apart) and the boy by himself. They were all fine with each arrangement. Naturally, as a child ages, they will wish for space and more privacy, but sometimes that just isn't a workable thing with the house you have. My oldest got married at 2 months shy of 19 and she was sharing with her 6th grade sister at that time.

Red

Sounds good! Currently the boys share a bedroom

A: By choice
B: Because DH insists on it & I agree.

There are enough bedrooms to go around in current house but DH always thought that they should have to share to learn how to share, compromise, bond and make memories.

Love reading your memories!

If the little gal is in the way I'll take her :oP I'd love to play dress up for a year or two :o) heh heh

I've been pondering this question myself as we're in line for adopting siblings. If we get boys, I'll have them all stay with DS for security/bonding sake but if we adopted a boy and girl I'm thinking I shouldn't break them up right away so they'd share for a while. It sounds like you have the perfect family for the situation. All doing group bed and story works well as long as they also get up at the same time (that's for sanity for you really). I think a couple of years together would be fine :) Probably even quite fun if you plan it well (I'm sure you will).

Igloo - that's awesome to hear! I often think about fostering siblings. DH and I bring it up every now and then.

I'ts great to finally have a girl - I must admit! Yesterday I was able to finally put 2 little ponytails in her hair and I was so excited! 2 perfect little curly pom-poms on each side of her head.

She's a tough girl coming after 2 boys. Can usually be found w/ purse and doll in one hand and a toy hammer in the other! Usually whacking her brothers w/ it.

I'm headed over to the house again today to paint the upstairs (sometimes it gets depressing painting it for new tenants instead of us - but our time will come). There is enough space for a set of bunk beds and a single bed and a narrow dormer where we can do a built in seat. I will have to check today if there is electric in the dormer or if I would need to run some electrical work to place 2 hardwired sconces in the dormer.

I think it will be fine for a few years. I don't think I would let it go on for more than that tho. Do the kids have a separate playroom so when they have friends over to play they don't have to be hanging out in the bedroom? When my DD was your kids ages, she had friends over in her bedroom to play. Rarely did they play downstairs. Just a thought. I am sure it will work out fine as long as the kids have somewhere to play away from the bedroom that they share.

Just FYI, when doing foster care or fostering-to-adopt there are commonly very strict (State-determined) rules about the ages and sex assortments permissible in bedrooms (and square foot-per-occupant rules, too.

As a general rule, by toddler-hood, sexes must be separated, even for sibling groups. And there are sometimes age-spread limitations, as well. Of course these rules reflect concern over potential for sex abuse or exploitation (or at least agency concerns of that happening on their watch!) Many kids in foster care have already experienced more than their fair share of trouble, and of course occasionally while in foster care are still at risk, unfortunately.

If you're interested in doing foster care, there is always a need for homes, since the demand almost always exceeds the supply, alas. You local child welfare organization, or private agency would be thrilled to hear from a possible new recruit. Give them a call, and they can spell out the local regs.

I'll attach a link to a wonderful foster parent forum/ support board. I think this one is the best f/c resource on the web.

Here is a link that might be useful: Foster Parent Support Board/Discussion Forum