I guess it depends on how old the child is. My kids (boys) often sat on their beds to do homework and they used the euro as a backrest. I simply taught them that the sleeping pillow was the one that matched their sheets.

I do use shams for the twin beds in our lakehouse for the grandkids, but they don't sleep there often. For the twin beds in their room in our primary house, I have bedspreads, so no need. I only use white sheets, because I like to bleach them, but I think it also looks good to just have one or two sleeping pillows in crisp white laying or stacked on the bed.

Yes, both my kids had shams on their beds, why not?

When my children were young they had shams that matched their spreads. I recently bought a Pottery Barn set of bedding for my DGS and of course got the sham as well. His room looks adorable even though he does have a huge amount of books and legos in his room. There is sure no lack of character in his room.

For me, it depends on the age. If they are small and can't make the bed themselves, I personally would forget it. If they can make the bed themselves and enjoy a nice looking room, I would ask them if they would like a decorative sham with the understanding that it's part of the bed when they make it up each day. Frankly, we have decorative pillows/shams for our own bed and hardly ever put those pillows on the bed. No one ever sees our bedroom, and while I like it to look nice for us, I often wonder what is the point. ;)

Always. I really like how they finish off the bed. Also, it's a good way to "store" extra pillows. We have a convertible sofa in our finished basement and sometimes need pillows there.

My DD's, like ratherbesweing's boys, used those pillow for a backrest. I use a hard pillow with the shams.

Bluebell, sometimes I think the same as you do, but I really enjoy seeing the bed made up nicely when I walk by my bedroom. So for now, I use shams and two throw pillows when I make up the bed.

If you anticipate always being the bed maker and like the way it looks, do it. If you expect your child to take over bed making duties at some point, maybe reconsider or at least plan to store it at that point. In my world it's one of those things that turned into a battle that wasn't worth it.

I'd definitely get the matching sham. I don't think it's much more cost or effort to get the sham with an inexpensive pillow as a permanent filler. How much harder is it to place the sham on the bed each morning?

Dee -I think it also looks good to just have one or two sleeping pillows in crisp white laying or stacked on the bed.

I do too. I think I prefer plain white sheets in general.

I say why/why not for either way really. I'm just going to go ahead and order a sham. Growing up I had two of them on mine when I switched over to a full size bed. I was just curious if other people actually did or not.