Twins Blessed Twice

Parenting twins will bring about a plethora of joy as well as challenges. So it is good to plan, prepare, and gather as much information as possible to help you understand how to take care of your twins and yourself. Find below a few tips to ease out your initial years parenting twins.

 

Be prepared: The first step to raising twins probably will be being prepared for them. You normally hear stories and tips for single children from your family. Take those and improvise the same for two. If you have a family or friend with twins that's even better. Listen to their advise on how you can prepare. Besides that you should be prepared to have the patience of a 100-year-old monk. People will be constantly telling you how difficult it is to raise them, or manage financially for their student life. Take it all in with a nod and let you twins’ cuteness do the rest. 

 

Create routines: Creating and making routines are going to be even more challenging with twins at tow. But making routines are a great help. You will know when your kids need to be fed, put to bed and changed. A routine also helps you, your baby and your family function at their optimal state. Babies know and can feel the rhythm of things so putting them into a routine will make them feel safe knowing what to expect. Having a routine will help the twins deal with separation anxiety and as they grow up, they will also be accustomed to following a routine.  

 

Connect with other parents of twins: Reach out to experienced twin parents. They can provide a wealth of support. You can share knowledge and experiences. I have hardly seen any forum or club where parents of twin come together to share experiences and knowledge or just provide an understanding shoulder to lean on. You could start a club such and support each other. 

 

Treat each twin as a unique individual: Most people treat twins as one entity and they end up being suprised when the twins show different taste and personalities. You need to accept the fact that your twins are two individuals with different likes and dislikes, and need to instill this in your twins. Do not always think of them as a unit and respect their individual differences. Support each child's individuality by referring to each child by name - not as "the twins."

 

Be cautious about making comparisons: Parents often compare their child's development to other children of the same age, and this is even more prevalent in the case of twins. However, it is best not to compare your twins. Young children are quite perceptive and will internalize what they hear. Hearing your comparisons can easily discourage a child. 

Talking about twins, our perception is highly affected by what we see in movies such as “Judwa” and “Chalbaaz.” Let me pop some of the myths about twins we have been hearing that we think are true but many of them actually aren’t. 

• Identical twins can communicate by extrasensory perception: There is no scientific evidence that twins can read each other’s minds. Being socially close is explained by them sharing the same genes and growing up in close proximity.

• Twins are always born on the same day– or month or year: There are many cases where one twin was born in the night and the next one was born early in the morning the next day. That day could possibly the first day of the next month. So there is no guaranteeing that twins are always born on the same day, month or year. 

• Identical twins run in families: Identical twins do run in some families. There are many families across the globe where you will see an unusually large number of identical twins within the same family tree.

• Identical twins have identical fingerprints: Identical twins do not have identical fingerprints. Fingerprints are affected by factors such as temperature, intrauterine position and density of amniotic fluid near the fingers.

• They're one and the same:Twins are individuals, regardless of whether they're identical or fraternal. Despite their similarities, they are unique individuals who shared a womb. The best thing you can do to your twins is to treat as unique, special individuals.