Is it okay to co-sleep with your child?

You shall co-sleep with the kids till a certain period as most of the kids at the young age feel unsecured to sleep alone. I feel it should be consultative decision as both the parent and child should be comfortable. In our house, we all have the perfect family time before we go for sleep only. We discuss certain important things like academic goal settings for the kids, planning for an outing etc., We make it a point to have a family dinner and have light conversations too but ultimate family time is only before sleep. We all share the funny things happened during the day and certain other information, read stories, play some memory games etc. It was quite hard for me to initially think of parting way for a separate room for my kids even when the children younger to my kids started sleeping alone in our extended family. But when the kids wanted their space we thought its the right time to make them sleep alone. They will sleep alone in their room but after our usual family time and fun. There are nights when I used to suddenly wake up, rush and check they are sleeping well. One such day when I went, my little one asked, Amma, what happened? Did you have a bad dream?. Smiled at myself and I replied, Nothing like that, simply. In fact, I was the one who was in tears when my elder one started for the preschool. She never cried for single day. Kids will get adjusted but they should get convinced for that.
@ Mathari - I understand your feelings. I too initially used to peep into their rooms in the middle of the night to make sure they are feeling safe but they used to tease me and gradually we will get used to it. But earlier the better, once they are too old they take longer time. In my case younger never search for me unlike the older one.
@ Mohan - First, they should feel that its their room and its made specially for them. Set up a reading corner, decorate with the artwork done by them etc. to have the sense of ownership for the place then we shall slowly tell them they can sleep in their own room. Maybe, initially parents can sleep with the kids in the room for a couple of nights

This is indeed a very interesting discussion. I also think that beneath the genuine reasons for wanting kids to sleep separately, is another common and important reason - the lack of privacy for parents to share, discuss important stuff, and definitely for romantic and physical intimacy. And its not easy for kids if they stumble upon parents sharing sexual intimacies. Neither is it easy for the embarrassed parents! Busy lifestyles today leave very little room for parents to bond and spend time together.

My daughter is in 11th std now. She asked for her own room at her 9th std, though we are insisting to have her own room from 8th std. When the moment, she says she wants to have her own room, we found it hard to digest. We felt very sad as though she is moving miles apart. We arranged her a room, and she happily slept alone in her room. As a parent, the day she left us to the next room makes us feeling very bad. We went often looked at her room, to see she is fine. She is cool. Felt, the good days of non stop talking with her comes to end, she is finding her own space.

We have broached the subject and my 7 year old gets all emotional. She says she'll feel sad if she wakes up alone in the middle of the night and find neither of us beside her. What can we say to make her understand and without making her feel left out?