At an early stage of their life, some children may go through a phase where they feel they are unable to sleep in their own bed, and feel desire to sleep with their parent. This is frowned upon by society as it shows a lack of maturity and independence in the child. So, what happens when you walk in on your 21-year-old daughter laying in your bed?

One issues that arises as an adult spending the evening in their parent’s bed is the question of maturity. There is an unwritten rule between the time of childhood and adulthood where some of the strong elements of the relationship between parents and their child stop being cute and become awkward and questionable. Some examples of this may be dressing the same as your parent, holding their hand, kissing each other, and, of course, sleeping together.

What becomes prevalent when considering the bedroom is that it is strictly a private space. Therefore, being invited into anyone’s bedroom is a relatively intimate exchange or invitation. My parent’s reaction was more or less: “Why are you in my bed? Are you sick? Can you please leave?”. I think their reaction resembles what most parents would say: both concern for their child as well as the desire to go to sleep after an evening out, and, overall, confusion. Something I thought during my evening was the relationship parents have, and how children may forget that their parents have a relationship that is separate from the child, and even perhaps exclusionary to them. As I have grown older I have become more aware and even more respectful of this concept. My intervention breaks down this barrier and specifically intervenes on their private space.

One thing I considered while brainstorming my “proof” was having my parent’s in the photo as well. A nice shot would have been me sitting between my parents on their bed. I believe that this would have been better, more authentic proof. However, I was worried this would not accurately reflect my intervention, as I did not spend the evening with them, but rather relaxing in their bed. Overall, in my practise I have discussed and explored personal space and pushing boundaries. I look forward to expanding this into specific settings, such as the intimacy of the bedroom.