For some time now, Alex, our eldest child, has been telling us that she already want her own bed. A pink one with a Barbie headboard. She even tells us that she will sleep on the top row and her sister, Maxyn, will be on the bottom row. We have kidding her that we will simply separate our one single bed from our double bed and that will be hers. As for the Barbie headboard, we will just hire someone who can hand-paint her desired design.

But we haven’t been taking it seriously. Alex and Max has been co-sleeping with us since they were born. And no, they haven’t sleep without one of us, the parents. If I am not there, like when I attended overnight company affairs back when I am working, hubby makes sure he is there. And now that I am a WAHM, I am always there when they go to bed at night. But the recent events kind of make me think if it is already time for the girls to sleep on their own.

Giving children their own room to sleep has its pros and cons, of course. I read that when children are given their own room, they learn to put themselves to sleep on their own, which is an essential life skill. But giving them their own room also means spending. If there is a spare room it is easy to convert it to a child-proof one as long as there are resources. Everything a child needs should be there, perhaps including their own toilet with nice faucets to encourage them to clean their hands after playing. Cabinets, shelves, beds and their other needs should also be there. What if there is no spare room, how do we do it?

But if we go back to my question, when should they leave the parents’ room? Is there a right age? Are there skills I have to look for to tell that my children are ready? Do your children sleep in their own room/s?