sanity saving tips for raising twinss”

  By Troy White - father of Hailey and Katrina

SCHEDULING: Some people disagree with scheduling children but twins it is a necessity.  We started early – the girls were on a schedule almost the moment they got home.  If one woke up because they were hungry – the other one was woke up.  Soon, they both were waking up at the same time – going to sleep at the same time.  Schedule parenting also – I am a night hawk but my wife isn’t.  She would go to bed at 9 and I would stay up with the girls until 11 and then my wife would get up with them at 3 and we both would be ready to go in the morning.

SIBLINGS: I can’t count how many times my wife and I are ignored.  It’s always “how are the twins”, but as adults we can handle this.  Children need attention.  As, we didn’t have children, we didn’t have to worry about siblings, however I did hear of a great way for other children not to be missed.  As under “stupid questions”, your twins are going to get a lot of attention from strangers.  Consider putting a sign on your stroller about your older sibling – something like “we would love to discuss our twins but please ask our older sister/brother about us and me”. 

SILENCE:  Silence is not always a good thing.  Usually it means something big is brewing and trouble is near.  This very much applies to business and life.  When things around you are too quiet – it is time to get concerned and start trying to understand why things are so silent.

SHOES: Now I am starting to understand the female fascination with shoes!  My two little girls love to play with and carry around their shoes – and we wonder why they are like this when they are older guys!  It starts at 1 years old – ah hah!

SHOPPING: Uhhggg.  But also a necessary evil that needs to be done.  And shopping by yourself with twins can be a breeze – but it can also be torture for yourself.  Depending on the size of your twins, your stroller will work fine; but if you are on your own at the grocery store and need to fill a cart – look around first at your grocery stores, which have shopping carts that hold two children.  We are swamped with grocery stores around our home, but can only visit one, (if by ourselves) as they are the only store with a dual seat grocery cart.  How do you judge which kind of shopping trip you about to embark on? You don’t – you just never know.  But there are things you can do to get through it a little easier.  Have a bag full (or shopping cart full) of things you can hand them to keep them occupied.  If that doesn’t work – juice or food may be of some help. 

SIPPY CUPS:  Move them to the sippy cups early. Try it before a year for sure. The earlier you try the more likely hood they will take to it quickly.

SLEEP:  Sleep when your twins sleep.  Forget about all the other things that need to be done.  You need your strength to get through the rest of the day with those two. 

STUPID QUESTIONS:  Get used to the stupid questions.  And yes I am rude about people being stupid.  It does get tiring but it is a part of life – people are fascinated with twins.   They will ask the dumbest questions you could ever think of (and would never ask yourself). Use your imagination when asked questions – when my wife was asked if she was breast feeding the twins (like it’s any of their business) – she answered with “Oh – I didn’t know I was suppose to feed them!”.  Learn to lie also.  Since our children were premature they definitely did not look their age.  And everyone will ask – how old!  If you are feeling talkative then answer with the real age but lie about it.  It got to a point that we actually forgot how old our kids were as we were constantly answering 3 to 6 months older than they were.

Learn to push a stroller with a mission in mind.  At certain busy events it can take you forever to get nothing done due to all the people stopping you.  I put my sunglasses on – look mad – and push with a vengeance.  People may try to wave you down but hence the sunglasses – ignore them.  When I am pushing the stroller and on a mission you better be aggressive if you are going to get my attention and it better be a good reason why you were so aggressive.

SUPPORT:  Get it now and fast!  It can be hard to maneuver around with your twins so get ready to have people over.  Cabin fever can set in real fast with twins so having friends and family are essential - either have them come over for a visit or to give you a timeout. 

TELEVISION:  There is great debate on the matter of how much television your children watch.  But, whatever the debate, sometimes you need that peace and quiet and television is a good distraction.  Just make sure what they are watching is content you approve of.  As babies, my wife noticed that they lay there quietly as she watched some stupid talk show.  Instead of this, she found Teletubbies.  There were days were the sound of La La’s voice can put you over the edge but it’s better than them listening to Jerry Springer.

TOYS: I don’t personally believe you have to have two of everything especially with toys.  They will share and they will fight – all kids do when it comes to toys.  Your twins have the advantage though that they learn at a younger age what happens when you don’t share and when you do.  But sometimes, it just is easier to have two of something.  It’s not always fun to have to share every toy and some toys are just too cool to only have one. 

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(c) 2005 Troy D White All rights reserved :: 403.259.4566