The Great Room Swap

Long, long ago when we were designing the house we are now living in, I planned on having 3 bedrooms in the basement.  2 bedrooms would be for the boys to share and 1 big bedroom would be for Scott's office. 

I have always been fine with the boys sharing a room and have never felt like they needed their own.  At the last minute though, we decided that putting Scott's office downstairs near the chaos and noise was not a good idea.  He works at home full time so this wasn't an occasional office.  We opted to add a bonus room over the garage for him.  That was such a good idea!!

The third bedroom in the basement we have left empty these past 5 years with only the occasional guest staying in there.  Oddly enough, my boys have rarely asked to use that room.  The room assignments (Taylor & Bennett - Owen & Chase) have worked out remarkably well.

It has only been the past year, that I have realized my well-thought out plan was maybe not so well thought out.  The problem is, that the younger roommate doesn't go to sleep until the older roommate does.  In the case of Taylor and Bennett,  Bennett cannot go to sleep until Taylor does.  That makes absolute sense.  I wouldn't be able to go to sleep if the light was on and someone was moving around.  And if I was a kid fighting against going to sleep, this would be a great excuse. 

Here's the real problem.  Bennett is three years younger than Taylor and he needs more sleep than him.  He struggles going to sleep anyways and if he doesn't get his allotted 11 hours, watch out!  He is grumpy!  The only reason we have made it work is because Bennett is on the later school schedule.  He goes to bed later, but he can also sleep in later.

That may change this coming school year.  I have signed up the boys for the earlier schedule next Fall.  If they get it, the three younger boys will be going to school an hour earlier.

I thought about it for a month and came to the conclusion that we needed to use that third bedroom.  Taylor and Bennett would get their own rooms (2 different bed times) and Owen and Chase would move to the 3rd bedroom (They both go to bed at the same time.)

The boys had mixed reactions when I told them the "surprise."  Taylor and Bennett were thrilled to get their own room.  Owen was not happy about it and Chase was neutral.  Owen has since warmed up to it and now likes his new room.

The good news is that I can enforce the bed times.  No one has an excuse for not being able to go to sleep at their appointed time.