Pros and Cons of Sharing a Room with a Sibling

A lot of Filipino children have experienced sharing a bedroom with their siblings. Life is hard, and typically, families cannot afford houses with enough rooms to accommodate each child with separate rooms. The result: you spend most of your life sharing a room with a sibling.

What are the advantages of sharing a room?

• You have company. One of the perks of living with a sibling is that you never have to worry about being alone in your room. There is almost always someone there for you, and it feels less isolating knowing that you share a living space with them.

• It feels less scary having your sibling with you. It is very helpful to have someone in the room after watching a horror movie. There is this feeling of relief that whatever happens, there is another person in the room and that thought decreases the fear. Also, sometimes it is even fun to talk about scary things with one another in the comfort of your room.

• You can divide room responsibilities amongst yourselves. This could be a real asset when sharing a room. Knowing that you do not have to clean the room by yourself is a blessing. And it is easier and more enjoyable to do chores with your sibling than doing them alone.

What are the disadvantages?

• You have no personal space. It is the most disappointing part of sharing a room. Having a room means that there is an area that you can have to yourself without considering other people. But if your sibling shares that area then it is hard to build personal boundaries.

• So many disturbances within the room. Particularly when sleeping, sometimes your sibling sleep at ungodly hours playing or talking to their friend. During these moments coexisting with another person seems to be a real disadvantage.

• There are a lot of things inside the room. The cabinets specifically take up so much space and it is hard to move and navigate around the room with various stuff lying around. And there is nothing to do about it because all of your things and your sibling’s things are cramped up inside. This can definitely make the room feel crowded and suffocating.

Sharing a room with your sibling could be a real disadvantage when you let it be. But when you try to maximize its perks then it could actually be fun and healthy. This could solidify your relationship and tolerance in sharing a space with someone. Besides, you and your siblings may not live together forever and once you have lives of your own then you might miss binge-watching Netflix at three in the morning while burrowed underneath your blankets.