Is it okay for two 6- and 9-year-olds to share a bedroom with their 18-year-old step-brother?
I have two 6- and a 9-year-old sons. They live with their father. I have found out that they share a bedroom with their 18-year-old step-brother there. The 18-year-old plays videogames rated 16+ and 18+. Their father allows our boys to watch him play these games. And their father messaged me that he isn't stopping his 18-year-old playing this sort of games. We are going through courts to get my boys with me. At my house we have my boys staying over for the weekend and we don't allow them to play or watch such videogames.
Is it okay for an 18-year-old to share a bedroom with 6- and 9-year-olds? Is this allowed in the UK?
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This is purely a cultural issue. It is not illegal in the UK (although in England and Wales there is specific prohibition for opposite sexes sharing a room)
Historically, everyone in a family slept in the same room - as houses were only one room. In fact, the animals tended to sleep in the same room as well.
In some cultures, sharing a room with extended family is still normal.
However, it sounds like you are not comfortable with it, so it's worth looking at pros and cons, so you do need to discuss it with him, and ideally with the other parent.
I don't really think this is a good idea. Not with that kind of age gap, and particularly not with step-siblings.
There are no laws preventing this. The laws only apply to siblings of different sex.
The reason I believe it's just not ideal though, is that an 18 year is basically a full grown man, and may be into all sorts of things that may not be appropriate for such young kids. Also if the 18 year old doesn't have other younger siblings, then he may not have really learned what's appropriate what isn't where young kids are concerned. These things don't come naturally.
I also doubt an 18 year old would be particularly comfortable sharing a room with a 6 and 9 year old.
From the UK Housing Act 1985
325 The room standard.
(1)The room standard is contravened when the number of persons
sleeping in a dwelling and the number of rooms available as sleeping
accommodation is such that two persons of opposite sexes who are not
living together as husband and wife must sleep in the same room.
(2)For this purpose—
(a)children under the age of ten shall be left out of account, and
(b)a room is available as sleeping accommodation if it is of a type
normally used in the locality either as a bedroom or as a living room.
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