By Susan M. Heim
Is it wrong for twins to want to be together? Of course not! The bond between twins is beautiful, and most parents melt at the sight of their twins holding hands or looking out for one another. This is wonderful and a real benefit for your children, who always have the loving support of their sibling. But, unfortunately, your twins must also grow up in the real world and learn to interact with other people. If one of the goals of raising children is to prepare them for adulthood and reality, then they need to be encouraged to develop close relationships with others. Click to read the rest of this entry
By Joan A. Friedman, Ph.D.
Be as involved as much as possible from the beginning of your babies' lives. This will help you establish your role as a father, ease mom's desperation, and most importantly help to form a unique relationship with each baby from day one. Babyhood is a wonderful time to begin to know each child as a single being, apart from his twin and mom.
Help mom spend alone time with each baby by spending your own alone time with the other child. This way you'll both feel uniquely connected to each child. You might want to establish a routine whereby you take turns taking walks, doing errands, or just hanging out with one baby at a time. Click to read the rest of this entry
When your twins are ready to start school, the big question is always whether they would be better off in the same class or different classes (assuming there is more than one class in their grade level at that school). First of all, you should know that you may not have a choice! Some schools require that twins be placed in separate classrooms. If you'd prefer that your twins be in the same class, you'll want to do your research well before it's time for the kids to start school. You may choose to move your children to a school that is more willing to work with your request, or you may wish to explore your options to fight the policy, as did Wendy M. Haavisto of Minnesota. When her boy/girl twins were forced into separate classes at the start of first grade, she took her fight all the way to the state legislature, where a bill was signed into law on May 5, 2005, giving parents of multiples the right to choose whether their children should be placed in the same or different classrooms. Since then, many other states have passed similar laws (including my home state of Florida). Click to read the rest of this entry
You may want to give matching items, or you may purposefully choose non-matching gifts to focus attention on their individuality. This, too, may be dependent on age, as younger twins often want to match.
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There's a reason why they call twins "double trouble." According to a study presented at the 2008 annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona, Spain, mothers and fathers of twins have more mental health symptoms following their babies' delivery, as well as one year after birth, than do parents of single babies. Although we often hear about women suffering postpartum depression, especially due to elevated hormone levels following a multiple birth, the study also reported that fathers of twins had more anxiety, depression, sleep problems and social dysfunction than other fathers. Click to read the rest of this entry
Teething Twins
By Kimberley Becker
Teething is very different for every baby and twins are no different. You may find that one of your babies sails through teething without a fuss, while the other has a long, drawn out, painful experience. Sometimes you can see the little lumps under the gum line are sore and red, other times the first teeth just seem to magically appear!
On average, the first tooth usually appears somewhere in the seventh month of development. It is not unusual though for some showing up as early as the third month or as late as one year of age. Generally the first appearance of baby teeth are somewhere close to when you and your partner's first teeth made their appearance. Make a point of finding out when yours came in. It will give you a little advance warning ! Click to read the rest of this entry
For most adults, "The Grand Scheme of Things" refers to our long-term plans for the future. School-age children think up schemes for designing secret forts out of boxes, putting a spider in the teacher's desk drawer, or getting into mommy's makeup (so they can use mascara for lip gloss and layer on some forgotten blue eye shadow from the '80s).
However, in the literacy world, the similar word "schema" refers to all past knowledge and memories we bring with us to read a book. It is how the brain actually organizes its mental understanding of the world. Picture your babies' brains as small twigs from trees. They are thin, barely graduated from the definition of "stick." With every experience, your babies' brains grow, producing thicker tree trunks and tiny buds of new limbs. As soon as your babies are born, their "trees of schemas" grow. Click to read the rest of this entry
By Holly Engel-Smothers
Getting your twins "ready to get ready to read" can start as early as their first days of life (although you may feel more like resting after your growing family's big day!). The Early Literacy Initiative (www.pla.org/earlyliteracy) created a list of six pre-reading skills that help your children get ready to read. As with all developmental milestones, children may acquire these skills at different ages. Remember that each milestone builds on a previous milestone and that every day is a baby step toward achievement, independence and life-long learning. Below are six pre-reading skills that must be learned in order to read and write. Click to read the rest of this entry
When my twins were born at 7 pounds, 13 ounces, and 6 pounds, 9 ounces, I was told that they were very large for twins. After all, more than half of all twins are born before 36 weeks (an "average" singleton pregnancy is 40 weeks), and therefore twins are usually on the small side. But my twins now seem like "preemies" compared to the Maynard twins of North Carolina. Sean William and Abigail Rose had a combined weight of 23 pounds, 1 ounce at birth on June 20, 2008. Abigail weighed 12 pounds, 3 ounces, and Sean weighed 10 pounds, 14 ounces. Surprisingly, though, they aren't the biggest twins on record. A pair of twins was born in Arkansas in 1927 with a combined weight of 27 pounds, 12 ounces! The Maynard twins are both healthy and doing well after their Caesarean section birth.
By Susan M. Heim
These are some of the funniest or cutest T-shirt slogans I've seen for twins!