I would definitely allow same sex siblings to sleep together. My best friend and I slept in the same bed from the time we met in Jr High until now (when I'm home visiting we still sleep in the same bed). I bring that up because she is really more like a sister, lived with me through part of high school.

Opposite sex, probably up through age 7 or so.

toriandgrace Jul. 3, 2009 at 2:51 PM

My girls do sleep together...we have a 3 bedroom house which left one room for mom and dad and one for each girl...they decided to turn one into the playroom and the other one into their bed room. Works out great...they currently share a full size bed but we are waiting for daddy to build some bunk beds.

bumblebeestingu Jul. 3, 2009 at 3:09 PM

 I have 3 boys ages 10 and 5 (twins). They have bunk beds, yet they all choose to sleep together. My 10 year old  wont sleep on the top bunk, and neither will one of the twins. Sometimes one of them will get on the floor, or sleep on top, but 90% of the time they WANT to sleep together.

jchris Jul. 3, 2009 at 10:33 PM

My kids are 14 girl, 11 girl, 7 boy and 3 boy. Only the boys share a room but my kids sleep together all the time. My 3 yr old sleeps with my 14 yr old and my 3 yr old will also sleep with my 11 yr old on the floor. My 11 yr old just doesnt want to be alone so she will go get in the bed with the 7 yr old or whomever is available. I wake up every morning and have to look to see where they all are. I never know. I let them do whats comfortable to them. At some point, they will begin to get uncomfortable and they will stop on their own.  I dont need to monitor it.

momofsaee Jul. 4, 2009 at 12:23 PM

At one point we actually considered buying just one twin bed for our girls to share.  They were 3 and 5 at the time and both small for their age so a twin bed would have given them both plenty of room.  My dad thought we were nuts and insisted that every child should have their own bed.

But it wasn't that long ago that sharing a bed was considered normal.  My mom shared a full size bed with 3 of her sisters until she was a teen.  They never had their own beds.  It wasn't a big deal and she was very close with all her sisters.

I've caught all 3 of my older kis curled up in one of the girls little beds.  It was so funny...a 6yo girl, 5yo boy and a 4yo girl in a bed not much bigger then a toddler bed.  The 3 of them are so close.  They are 9, 7 1/2 and 6 1/2 now and still share a room together, although they all have their own beds and my son has his own side of the room to himself.

justanotherjen Jul. 4, 2009 at 3:00 PM

I personally thing that it's important for a school-age child to have the option of going to his own bed.  Snuggling with a sibling is nice and all, but there may come a time when he'll want to be alone.  I also believe that it's important for boys and girls to have their own space... adults need space, so why wouldn't a child.  As far as what age you should start separating them (camping out in the living room, late night movie night, etc. being exceptions), 8 has always been my favorite number.  It's around that age, give or take a couple years, that boys and girls separate genders really start to show.  A girl can start puberty as early as 9 years old, sometimes at 8 yrs of age, and boys usually start around 12 years.  Even if you're not worried about incest, it's nice to have a separate bed and gender-oriented rooms prepared for these extremely emotional times.

DSpring Jul. 4, 2009 at 9:39 PM

My sister and I shared a full-sized bed when we were somewhere between 5-6.  It wasn't for long, and I started wanting my own room badly, but really, I don't see a problem with same-sex kiddos sharing a bed.

RanaAurora Jul. 5, 2009 at 2:50 PM

My boys are 2 and 4 and still sleep together.  They have bunkbeds with a full on bottom and both sleep on the bottom.  I don't see them changing this anytime soon.  As long as the kids want to sleep together then let them.  There will come a point when they want thier privacy, but for now let them be comfortable.

mamasitax2 Jul. 5, 2009 at 4:04 PM

I think that its fine. People seem to make a big deal about everything but I've grown up in and around families that were too poor to live to live in seperate rooms and sometimes seperate beds. Families had to double up in an apt to get by. All this I hear about laws on sleeping arrangements I think is too much. Most of us try our best and even if we apply for aid there are sometimes years of waiting lists. My mom was even found inelligible for it and we were struggling for many years and 4 of us had to share a room including my mom.

crystaleve29 Jul. 5, 2009 at 10:58 PM

My sister and I grew up with bunkbeds with a twin on top and full on bottom. We had a kind of weird childhood, so we were eachother's best friend. We always slept on the bottom together. When I was about 13 and she was 10, my mom asked us if we wanted seperate beds or just one big one. We got a Queen and shared it until I moved out of the house. I just look at it like we were just really close. We're still best friends even though we live in different states.

Every kid is different. If you're not sure what to do, just ask them. There's nothing wrong with it, though. Now I have a girl and a boy, and another boy on the way. Once I'm done BFing, I plan to move our new baby in with his brother. If they want to sleep in the same bed, that's fine with me!

mmmommy0207 Jul. 6, 2009 at 12:55 PM