My two teenage sons sleep in a ‘shed’ behind the house – people say I’ll regret it when I end up as a young grandma
A TOUR of a backyard shed sparked a debate with thousands of comments when a mom revealed it’s where her two teenage sons sleep. The boys, ages 16 and 18, are still in high school, but their parents give them free rein of the private space. Shawndra Wilson is a mom of seven, but the […]
A TOUR of a backyard shed sparked a debate with thousands of comments when a mom revealed it’s where her two teenage sons sleep.
The boys, ages 16 and 18, are still in high school, but their parents give them free rein of the private space.
Shawndra Wilson is a mom of seven, but the family’s home is less crowded since her two oldest sons set up camp in a repurposed shed.
“We converted this tool shed into a two-story room two years ago,” Wilson explained on TikTok. “They love it and teaches responsibility.”
The only major amenity the shed doesn’t have is a bathroom, but Wilson’s sons can easily access the main house through the back door, which features a smart lock with a code.
While demonstrating the bathroom accessibility, Wilson also showed off a security feature that gives her additional peace of mind.
“Right here is our camera that shows the whole backyard and notifies me of motion overnight,” she said, showing the camera mounted on the roof.
“As soon as they come out of that door I know.”
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Inside the shed, the teens had divided the ground floor into two sections, separated by a sheet.
Each son had a gaming computer, fans and an air conditioner, a dresser, and a wall-mounted bar for hanging clothes.
Along with their individual belongings, the boys shared a long sofa and a mini-fridge. A large flatscreen TV waited to be mounted on the wall.
Wilson pointed out signs of a third resident tucked into a corner: a litterbox and cat supplies.
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“They have their own cat,” she said, adding in the comments section that she was happy the cat resides in the shed so she doesn’t have to smell the litter box.
Ascending stairs that her husband built, Wilson showed off two sleeping areas, each outfitted with a queen-size mattress, lights, and fans.
“It’s just a little loft,” Wilson said.
The shed has its own electricity, and an ethernet cable buried in the yard provides high-speed internet from the main house.
“When you come inside, it does not look like a shed,” Wilson explained.
“It’s fully insulated, drywalled, painted, it has carpet.”
Viewers were divided over the concept in the comments, with some vocal critics arguing the shed was a fire hazard.
Wilson confirmed that the structure is equipped with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, as well as a fire extinguisher.
Others commented on a different “safety” issue at hand.
One viewer wrote that, before they saw the motion-activated camera, “I was about to say you’ll have some grandbabies really quick with that shed.”
“Where do they keep their beer?” quipped another viewer.
“What could possibly go wrong giving teens the perfect place to sneak other teens over?” a third asked hypothetically.
But the close proximity of the shed, plus the added responsibility of private space, made perfect sense to some fellow parents.
“I see no problem with it because you guys are literally like five steps away from them,” one person reasoned.
“I love this, it’s strict parents that raise sneaky kids,” another agreed.
Several commenters said the arrangement wasn’t unusual and recounted their own teen years spent in apartments over the family garage or private quarters of their own.
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“Growing up we had nine kids in our family and not a ton of money,” one person recalled, and the oldest kids resided in their own camp trailers.
“It gave us a space to be ourselves and we always had adequate access to utilities and restrooms,” they remembered.
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