Often I post stories about twins celebrating milestone birthdays together. However, I rarely tell stories about adult twins who have reconnected in later life after some years of discord. An identical twin woman in her midseventies—whom I will call Mary—came to see me after a particularly traumatic interaction with her twin sister, Monica. These women live near one another—about a thirty-minute drive. They had a long history of getting together for family events but rarely saw one another by themselves. […]
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Twins: Addicted to Opioids and Each Other
I recently did a consultation about a pair of twins who became addicted to opioids after one of the teenage girls sustained a knee injury during a gymnastics competition. The girls are fourteen years old and have been devoted to training and performing since they were five years old. Both were highly gifted, motivated, and driven to excel. They spent practically every waking moment together training, practicing, and competing and had very little time for other activities or relationships. Gymnastics […]
Exploring the Relationships between Twins and Other Siblings
With the author’s permission, I am sharing a paper she wrote this summer. Gwendolen Huo is a sixteen-year-old identical twin who has an interest in exploring her relationship to her twin and their older sister. I trust you will appreciate her burgeoning efforts to articulate her emotional perspectives. Two Is Better than One, Right? Two pairs of feet, each with crimson red flats, marched forward together in unison. Further up, the two are wearing identical scarlet dresses rimmed with […]
Two for the Price of One: Not Always a Good Deal
Often, parents ask me to weigh in on various issues that impinge upon the lives of their multiple-birth children, such as a school issue, a behavioral problem, or a policy issue. Recently, a woman contacted me via my website to ask me to write a letter to the administrators of her identical sons’ school regarding a specific school policy that discriminates against multiples. Although to some people her concern may appear trivial in the larger scheme of things, it is […]
The Second Book in the Multiples Illuminated Series Offers More Unique Stories from Parents of Twins and Triplets
I was recently asked to write the foreword to the second anthology of Multiples Illuminated: Life with Twins and Triplets, the Toddler to Tween Years, which was just published. Once again the editors, Megan Woolsey and Alison Lee, have compiled a collection of beautifully written stories by parents of multiples. The essays are arranged developmentally and chronologically, each one highlighting recognizable familial situations and parenting predicaments. There is a comforting authenticity to the mixture of feelings expressed—anger, frustration, fear, disappointment, […]