My daughter always shared a room with her yonger brother,Since we moved into a bigger house,everyone got there own room.At bedtime,my daughter would cry and cry.Saying "The dark is scary"When i leave the hall light on,its not enough.How do you deal with this?She is always waking her younger brother up because there rooms are really close.Advice?
Let her sleep with her brother. Just put a mattress on the floor. Soon enough she will want to go back I too her room.
Let them share a room if they both want to, or she can camp out in his room at night if he likes his room. My younger boys are 7 & 9 and I can't imagine them in separate rooms if we had the space. They have bunk beds and yet they choose which bunk they'll *both* sleep in every night.
Don't worry about mixing gender - my two oldest (son and step-daughter) had to split a room until recently, and they are both teenagers. It wasn't ideal as neither had privacy in the room and could use it basically for sleeping and storing clothes, but we made it work until we added another bedroom to the house. With little ones, it's really no big deal. Let them share a space until they decide that they don't want to do that anymore.
Put them back in the same room?
I set up separate rooms for my sons when we bought this house. They didn't like that at all. I thought it was just because it was a new place, but it was because they wanted to be together. We moved one into the other room and they've been that way ever since. In your case, your daughter will eventually choose to have her own room again. Until then, let them keep sharing.
Why not just let them share a room? When they need their space, they will let you know. Bonus - you might get an office for a few years :)
If a night light isn't enough, work with her other senses. Get her a textured pillow to hug or a lambskin to lay on. I used a clean white plain face cloth to soothe my kids. I put a couple drops of an essential oil (like lavender) or sometimes my favorite perfume on the cloth and rubbed it well so the scent wasn't too concentrated on any one spot. My kids kept their "sweet dreams cloth" under their pillows and the scent was very soothing and comforting. That might help.
I don't see any reason to not let them still share a room. I know my boy share a room not that they have any choice not to but until my youngest was about 7 or 8 maybe if my oldest was gone for the night he had to sleep with us because he was scared to sleep alone.
Oh, that's so sweet! Why not let them go back to sharing a room?
My sister and her husband had a two bedroom apartment until her kids were 7 & 9 (a boy and a girl) when they were finally able to buy a house. The kids were so excited to get their own rooms ... until they moved in. Then they had trouble sleeping apart. For quite awhile they still slept in the same room. My sister just let them. Her philosophy was, whatever, as long as they sleep. I don't remember how long it took, but they got used to their new house and their own rooms and started wanting their own space.
Just give it time. This is not something to insist on. As long as they're sleeping, all is well.
