Double Futon

By and large, the most common selection of futon beds is a double futon mattress. It is pretty easy to understand why too.

First of all, most people who have futons use them for converting into a futon couch as well. It follows that you wouldn’t want to be folding up a king size since these things can be pretty heavy. The other main reason is that not many adults are using these right now.

14% of teenagers sleep on futons compared to only 4% of adults as their primary mattress. Although peculiar, the new fangled mattresses with the memory foam, pillow tops and new spring systems take a majority of the lime light. This is not to say that those may not be better mattresses, however, they also come with several times the prices tag.

Since kids beds tend to grow with the children, price becomes a factor in the 5 year upgrade of the kids beds. Teenagers also love the feature of turning there bed into a couch. In fact, my teenager went so far as to leave it in the futon chair position even while he slept at night! There is something in the teenage psyche that parents may never fully understand, but apparently it was “cool” and “no big deal”.

Convertible furniture, like futon furniture is particularly good for teenagers in this way because it allows them to modify their surroundings, effectively controlling their environment which is part of their natural development. I have always thought it might encourage more reading by him, but it seems as though this is to no avail.

Some say that size does not matter, but a teenager would beg to differ on whether a single or double futon is suffice. Bigger, is always better.

There are also studies that show bed type during the rapid physical growth of the teenage years is linked to back problems down the line. It seems that a firmer mattress with strong back support is more important than we originally thought!

So, how does a futon do in this regard? Well, it is actually extremely supportive. I slept on a futon for a number of years (before I was married) and really enjoyed it. I sometimes sleep on the futon chair downstairs when either my wife or I am sick, and sometimes I get to thinking I might want to get another one of those for our room. But then I lay on the glorious memory foam again and realize my foolish ways…

But as for my son? It was really only a question of whether he wanted the single or double futon. He can have all the plush tops he wants when he is ready to buy it on his own!