Why Let Your Kids Decorate Their Own Bedrooms

It can be difficult to let go of control when you want to decorate your child’s bedroom, but they have very different ideas from you. Maybe you want something with a neutral palette so that you can change the furniture overtime, but maybe they want to have something anime themed or car themed. Whether it’s a Princess bedroom they want or it’s from race cars on the walls, your children are going to have an opinion about what they want for their bedroom. So why don’t you let your kids decorate it themselves.

Sometimes you have to give your children space to have free rein when it comes to decor. While you’re decorating your bedroom, the rest of the house, the living room, the movie room, the bathrooms, and more, your child only has one space that’s their own. They should be able to have a say in it as to what it looks like. So here are the reasons and the benefits that kids can gain when parents allow them the time and the creative freedom to decorate their own bedrooms.

Photo by cottonbro studio

1. You get to know your child a little bit more. Every parent wants to know more about their kids in their life, especially once they hit the more secretive teenagers. When you see how they decorate their room, you gain a little bit of insight into their private world. Whether it’s a poster of the favorite musical artist they’re obsessed with, to the posters of anime cartoons that they love. You’re going to be able to really deep dive into your child’s psyche. Try not to read too much into their aesthetic choices or have too much of a negative opinion. Remember, this is their space. You don’t have to like it, but you’re not hanging out in there. 
2. Give them some rope with furniture. Some kids prefer a loft bed whereas other kids would prefer a smaller bed. Some kids want to have a bunk bed with trundle underneath for their friends to stay over and others just want a king size bed that takes up most of the space. Often young kids will give themselves time and space to think about what furnishings they would like in their bedroom because it’s their space to decorate. If you give them some free reign with their furniture, you’ll be able to let them decorate their room and see how their personality shines through as a result.
3. It shows you respect their independence. Even the youngest children feel trapped and unhappy when they don’t see themselves reflected in their personal space. As they get older, teenagers will often spend a lot of time in their bedrooms on their own. You need to have a compromise to build the relationship of respect and understanding with your child, so allowing them to curate a space that suits them. This helps you to be clear that you are intentionally doing this for them. 
4. Give them a chance to be creative. Self-expression is super important, and if your children are asking to decorate their own room, they’re asking for that chance to be creative with it. Of course, it’s always difficult when children share bedrooms because they might have very different ideas about what it should look like. But if your child has their own bedroom, then absolutely give them a chance to write down what they want so that you can price up the ideal space for them.
5. It gives them a way to care for their own things. When children have a little more autonomy about what things look like, they’re more inclined to care about it. This means you’ll have to neglect their bedroom being tidy, and children need to learn the value of maintaining their own living space to a standard that is acceptable. The last thing you want to do is send your children out into the world believing that they can just live in the filth. When you give them a chance to look after and to decorate their own bedrooms, they may want to spend more time making it look good because that’s what’s going to make them feel good.

In the end you do still get to have the final say on how things are done or how much money is spent on their bedroom, but it does need to reflect their space and not your own. Sit down with your kids and ask them what they want for their individual bedrooms. But if they share then make sure that there is a lot more oversight.