Thursday, October 14, 2010

What it is like to be a twin?

Last month someone asked one of my twin boys, "What does it feel like being a twin?" He shrugged and responded, "Pretty normal."

I laughed at myself for finding his simple answer to be profound, but his response is reassuring when we feel a bit overwhelmed tackling situations specific to multiples. Our twins have another birthday coming up next month– you would think after all these years (they'll be 7) I'd have evolved past worrying about whether the gifts are sufficiently unique for each kid, are fairly distributed, whose turn is it to have "Happy Birthday" sung to him first, etc. Despite any fretting on their mom's part, their sibling experience is "normal" for them. So the point is: relax. Do your best to parent fairly, but remember that you cannot parent perfectly equally.

This week I ran into a friend whose triplets are now freshmen in high school. We talked about the fact that soon she'll be helping each teen log plenty of state-required supervised driving hours before obtaining a drivers' license. Uh, sounds like a few roadtrips across the country are in order! Have faith: we'll tackle it, and to our kids, the experience is their own personal version of "normal," so enjoy it and roll with it.

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