Mom explores the differences between 'living room parents' and 'bedroom parents'

A lot of parents are now sharing their parenting styles online and have made some interesting observations. They're comparing how they grew up and what changes they'd like to make when raising their own kids. Marissa Kile says she is now a "living room parent," a choice she consciously made after she grew up with "bedroom parents." The TikTok user shared her insights on a new parenting trend that explores the differences between "living room parents" and "bedroom parents."

It seems like a very small detail not many people will realize until later in life. "I grew up where like my parents hung out in their bedroom," she explained in the now-viral video. "Like 24/7, they were never in the living room, okay? So, like, going into my parents' bedroom was like a sacred thing. Like, you stood at the door, and you waited for permission to go in, okay?" What Kile realized is that she often felt alone and wished her parents would spend time with her in shared living spaces.

People who have grown up in a similar way can identify with the feeling of wanting to socialize with their family and spend more quality time with each other. But when parents retreat to the bedrooms, children would often feel neglected. Kile now makes it a point to spend all her time in shared living spaces with her kids. One way she ensures this is to avoid decorating her bedroom or making it cozy.  “We sleep in here. That’s it,” she said. “Am I the only person that just sleeps in their f***ing room?”

In a follow-up video, Kile replied to a comment from a follower who was used to "living room parents" and was rather new to the concept of "bedroom parents." Kile said that she had no idea "living room parents were a thing until I was much older because my parents were bedroom parents, but also my best friend growing up, her parents were bedroom parents. Okay? So, I thought that was normal."

"And I haven't decorated my room purely for the fact of I spend most of my time in all of the other spaces in my house. I would rather spend most of my time focused on everything else than the space that I don't spend any time in because I literally wait until the last second to go to bed or like the special time with the husband and then I spent an extra time in my room. But also I'm wondering [what] is the reason that I'm a living room parent now? Because I don't want to be like my parents who are bedroom parents and do I need to go back to therapy?" she joked.

Other TikTok users chimed in to say that they could relate to her story. @howdyitse wrote, "Totally feel this. We are living room parents. We eat, sleep and play in the living room daily. I forget what my bedroom looks like lol" @madisonsenn joked, "No I hide in my room from my 3 kids all the time." @savedbyhisgrace1111 said, "Look- I’m a bedroom parent but my kids are all up in my bedroom with us. It’s the family room," to which Kile replied, "That’s different. My bedroom parents didn’t want to know we existed."

What people can learn from this is that it's important to balance having private time for yourself while also ensuring your children get quality time with you as a parent, preferably in a shared living space. This way a parent can have their own privacy but also ensure that the kids never feel alone.