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Could you tell me how much space your preteen or teenager needs for his/her personal belongings? I am trying to decide if my boys need to pare down what they own, or if I should squeeze more furniture somewhere in the house to accommodate their toys, books, collections, etc.
Mine are sharing a bedroom, so it is feeling crowded to them. They each have a dresser, half the closet, a bookshelf, plus one more piece of furniture for their other belongings. This doesn't seem to be enough.
Things for their extracurriculars and school books are stored elsewhere.
We have three teenagers and two adults in a 1300-sq ft house. Each teen has his/her own small bedroom. It is a little tight but +/- 120 sq ft seems to be enough for each of them and (most of) their stuff. We have bins in the garage with outgrown books and toys but that is actually by my desire and not theirs; they are pretty good about getting rid of things.
Mine are sharing a bedroom, so it is feeling crowded to them. They each have a dresser, half the closet, a bookshelf, plus one more piece of furniture for their other belongings. This doesn't seem to be enough.
Things for their extracurriculars and school books are stored elsewhere.
My daughters more-or-less happily shared one of our 120-sq ft rooms until they were 11 and 14, then all hell broke loose. It was clear they each needed their own space at that point. Well, I should say they "needed" their own space. We were able to make it work by adding an additional small bedroom to the house, but if we hadn't been able to do that, they would have had to survive together somehow. It just wouldn't have been pretty.
Mine are sharing a bedroom, so it is feeling crowded to them. They each have a dresser, half the closet, a bookshelf, plus one more piece of furniture for their other belongings. This doesn't seem to be enough.
Things for their extracurriculars and school books are stored elsewhere.
Maybe they could have loft beds so there would be more floor space in the room.
Could you tell me how much space your preteen or teenager needs for his/her personal belongings? I am trying to decide if my boys need to pare down what they own, or if I should squeeze more furniture somewhere in the house to accommodate their toys, books, collections, etc.
Thanks!
People vary from one to the other. Some people need more stuff, some people need less. There is no one answer.
What is clear, is most families have a limit to what can safely be stored. Determine how much room you can give your teen, and let them decide what to keep or not.
Do you think that your children have collected too many toys, books, collections? Do they collect small things, like match box cars, or larger things like full size Tonka trucks? Do they have 20 books or 200 books?
I know someone who allows their children to keep only as many toys as fit in their toy box. If they get something new, and want to keep it, something old has to go. They also can have two shelves of books. If it does not fit, a book has to go. Needless to say, Grandma & Grandpa certainly can't go wild on presents for them.
Now, the parents are the same way. They have a specific amount of cookbooks (maybe eight) if they want a new cook book and old one needs to go. If they buy a new shirt an old one needs to go.
Their house is very sparse and empty, but that is what they want.
I have two preteen girls. Each have their own room with a bed, dresser and desk. My 10 yr old has a loft bed so her desk can fit underneath which frees up space. We have a finished basement that has all of their other stuff such as my 10yr olds toys and dolls, a gymnastics mat, craft area, bookshelves and tween hangout area with TV and game consoles. Outdoor stuff like bikes, rollerblades, etc is in the garage.
I never had my own room growing up, so I feel my girls are lucky to have their own space. However I do go through there stuff once a year and donate items that they no longer use such as old toys, clothes,, etc. It helps fee up space!
They each have their own room and we have a finished basement. They have more than enough room.
If you have space for a shelf, get them a shelf. I'm not sure how to really answer your question. By the the tween and teen ages, mine were done with most of their toys.
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