Partitioning a Bedroom in an Apartment

RE: Partitioning a Bedroom in an Apartment Post By louel53 (Guest Post) (08/03/2007) How about reading to the girls at bed time? Maybe if you or dad were reading a story or two, the little one would fall asleep. I doubt very much that the 2 year old talks loud enough to keep the 3 year old awake. Maybe this is a bit of attention getting behavior on her part, and you could solve it with something special just for her, like the radio suggested earlier, or a tape player with stories or whatever. I used to read to my kids every night, and when I was too tired to read I would recite little poems. If you don't know any poems or nursery rhymes, you could sing. Sometimes I would be the first one to fall asleep!!!! Try to come up with a reasonable solution that will keep you and both little girls happy. Telling little ones to "suck it up" is only going to lead to tears and fuss at bedtime. If these were two adults with this problem, they would try to work out a compromise. RE: Partitioning a Bedroom in an Apartment Post by kimhis (136) | (08/02/2007) Contact Give them each a cheap little radio and tape the volume button very quiet, and that will hush the chatter of the one and calm the other. RE: Partitioning a Bedroom in an Apartment Post by bkrmom (2) | (08/02/2007) Profile | Contact I had the same problem when my children were younger. The apartment I rented wouldn't allow me to build a partition that would be permanent. So I built a portable half wall. I used 5- 8' pieces of 2" x 4"s(cut into 4' lengths), 1-4'x8' sheet of 1/2" plywood, and 1-4x8' piece of 3/16" plywood. Sandwiched the 3/16" of plywood (4' high 8' long) between 8 of the 2x4's and used the 1/2"piece as the base. I screwd the 2x4's into the base piece; the base piece set under both beds for stability. I covered the base with used carpet remnants. The other 2 2x4's made a shelf on each side for their little trinkets. This held up for 10 years until we moved. When we moved, I just unscrewed everything and it moved with us. When we got to the next place where they could each have their own room, they asked for their little walls again. So up the wall went in the playroom so they had a place to play and a place to do their homework. So for the about $40 they each had their privacy and I got peace. Will cost a little more today, but well worth the cost and flexibility. RE: Partitioning a Bedroom in an Apartment Post By Phyllis (Guest Post) (08/02/2007) I wouldn't try to change the room at all. Your 3 year old can get used to the 2 year old making her noise. They are sisters and this is just part of being sisters and learning to live in the world with other people. I would never start the bad habit of letting a child sleep in the bed with me. I would put those girls to bed and say, stay there. Tell the 3 year old to stop complaining, close her eyes and go to sleep. Be the grown-up here. RE: Partitioning a Bedroom in an Apartment Post By Marta (Guest Post) (08/02/2007) I am in a similar situation, living in a two bedroom house with girls ages 4 & 6. We use sleeping music and sometimes let them go to bed at different times. Sometimes when the girls are keeping each other up at night, I put one to sleep in my bed and one to sleep in their own bed. Then when I am ready for bed I just move whoever is in my bed to their bed. It is not a perfect fix, but it works some nights. RE: Partitioning a Bedroom in an Apartment Post By Celeste (Guest Post) (08/01/2007) Thanks for the suggestions. We try our hardest to put them to sleep at different times but a lot of nights we stay out swimming until 8 or 9 pm when their father gets home from work and they both are tired and want to go to sleep at the same time. Grin and bear it is the phrase that applies here I guess. Thanks again for the great ideas! Celeste RE: Partitioning a Bedroom in an Apartment Post by ThriftyFun (3926) | (07/31/2007) Profile | Blog! | Contact I was wondering if you could put them to bed at different times. Let the talker, talk herself to sleep then put the older one down to bed. Susan from ThriftyFun RE: Partitioning a Bedroom in an Apartment Post by pamphyila (287) | (07/31/2007) Blog! | Contact You might get an air cleaner or a white noise machine or just a tape/CD with ocean sounds on it to blot out the noisier sibling. RE: Partitioning a Bedroom in an Apartment Post by QueenBeeCrafts (115) | (07/31/2007) Profile | Contact Are they climbers? If you placed some bookcases back to back to form a wall down the middle, would they try to climb on them? You could screw plates together on the top to keep them from tipping apart - these would be high and the stuff on them would help absorb the noise. Then you could maybe do a folding padded "screen" between the top of the bookcase and the ceiling -the padding will help absorb more sound, and they could put stuffed animals and such up there. Most bookcases are about 3 feet wide -so 4 would give you a wall about 6 feet wide and probably about 1.5 feet thick. As long as you don't block the exit - you should be ok. I would put the beds on the far side as far aaway from the wall as possible. Will music help muffle the sound? For my son I use a fan - it helps muffle noises and lets him sleep better. he is 2 1/2. good luck