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June 16, 2008
Sisterly love
So these bunk beds we got the girls? The verdict is still out on whether they were a good idea. They certainly love the things. A little too much. I can't even count the number of times Rex or I have had to go up there and tell them to stop climbing the headboard (Katie, to pull things off the wall, or see Jamie), stop talking, get back in bed, stop passing stuffed animals back and forth and GO TO SLEEP.
Even though we have this huge house, we thought there were some important lessons for the girls to learn from sharing a room. Sharing, compromise, comradarie, how to fight and how to make up - all lessons that will serve them well throughout their lives. Of course, learning those lessons isn't going to come without some stress, on their parts and on ours. For them, it's a lack of alone time and later privacy, and learning to fight fair. For us, it's dealing with bickering and fights when they don't agree, and letting them have some bonding time after lights out that often leads to out and out play.
We tried giving them a few minutes each night to talk after we put them to bed. We would give them a time on the clock to talk until, and then they were supposed to be quiet. And for a while, that worked out fine. Then we would have to yell up to them that time was up. After that, someone would have to go up there. We called it quits when one of us would have to go lay the smack down two and three times a night before they either went to sleep or got smart enough and quiet enough to avoid detection.
Rex has threatened taking the beds apart if they can't go to bed quietly. I'm against that, since I spent months shopping for and agonizing over getting just the right quality and style of furniture. I may have been wrong about bunks being a good idea (and no, I'm not dumb enough that I didn't see some of the pitfalls. We had some of these problems when they were on mattresses on the floor, it's not all a bunk issue), but dammit, we're going to stick with them.
Posted by me at June 16, 2008 10:27 PM