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Comments on this question suggested a companion question about opposite-sex siblings. We had our son and daughter in the same bedroom till age 7. We moved things around last weekend, not because any kind of problem was developing but because the opportunity arose.

Could they have carried on sharing?

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    I stopped at 22. It didn't harm anyone. Its all about perspective. The moment you stop doing what you are told by society, and start to think as you see it fit. You won't need to ask anymore questions on common sense
    – samayo
    Apr 23, 2014 at 21:00

3 Answers 3

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It wasn't that long ago that less well off families in the UK would all share a bed, or have a couple of beds for a large number of children, and in some developed countries there is no option but to fit families wherever they can - and they seem to get by.

If your culture is one of more privacy between sexes, you may wish to segregate them, or they may wish to have some privacy. But as @Torben says, I don't think you need to force it, until they tell you they want to be separated.

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I guess this answer is just as suitable here: As long as they want to. Eventually they'll want their private space for various reasons, certainly when puberty kicks in.

Anecdote: a set of boy/girl twins I know shared a room until age 9 and that worked well. I'm not aware of the separation reason; whether it was just an opportunity like in your question, or a wish from the kids, or uh, biological considerations.

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I don't understand what this has to do with being opposite sex. At which age should an older sister stop sharing her bedroom with a younger sister? Why would the answer differ if it was a younger brother?

For my older kids, the answer was: When their interests were too different from their younger siblings. One of my girls effectively stopped playing at the age of 11, a boy at 12. (They would still play with their younger siblings sometimes, but only to please those, not for her own amusement.) A year or two later they were happy to move into their own room.

FWIW, two of my kids would occasionally share a bed (when visiting elsewhere, when we had visitors, or just because they wanted it for mutual comfort) until they were 11 and 14. Then the older one fell in love with someone, and they stopped.

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