If organizing consistent alone time with each of your twins seems out of reach, here are a few suggestions that might help you carve out some precious one-on-one moments: Bring one baby in the car pool. Take one baby out for a walk in a single stroller. Take the babies separately to doctor appointments. Take the babies to the same toddler group on alternate days. Play alone with one baby at the park. Bathe the babies separately. Be attuned to […]
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A Grandmother’s Twin Tale
When new acquaintances get over their surprise about my vocation as a twin therapist, they ask all sorts of questions and tell me interesting stories about twins. I particularly loved an interaction I had with a woman who has seven-year-old fraternal twin grandsons. She told me how upset she had been when her daughter-in-law and son decided to put the boys in separate kindergarten classes. While she wisely did not share her disapproval of this decision with the boys’ parents, […]
Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone
The keynote speaker at my son’s graduation ceremony emphasized principles that are currently trendy in business and psychology: the importance of failure and the courage to take risks. He asserted that essential emotional growth happens when we learn from failure and get out of our comfort zone. I thought about these principles as I listened to a mom of four-year-old fraternal twin daughters talk about her parenting challenges. Neither of the girls sleeps through the night. One, whom I’ll call […]
Providing Clarity for Twins and Their Therapists
I am excited to announce that my new book, Twins in Session: Case Histories in Treating Twinship Issues, is scheduled for release on June 5, 2018. Much of the literature about twins either focuses on extreme emotional and relational abnormalities or perpetuates the stereotype of perfect synchronicity between twins. I wrote Twins in Session to share the stories of real twins who sought help for common, real-life twinship problems. I hope that these case studies will not only help other […]
One Step at a Time
Many parents of twins confront the daunting challenge of helping their children develop individual friendships. This is not usually an issue with boy-girl twins, vut same-sex twin pairs frequently have difficulties in this arena. A mom of ten-year-old identical twin girls recently shared a story with me that illustrates this challenge. Both girls have been in separate classrooms since kindergarten. One of the girls, Kaye, has more self-confidence than her sister, Clarissa. She is outgoing, independent, and easygoing. She attends […]