When I saw the title of this article in the Chicago Sun Times, I stopped breathing for a second. “I Used to Be an Identical Twin.” In it, the author, Mary Mitchell, pens a beautiful tribute to her identical sister Marie who recently died of cancer. Marie left behind grieving children, grandchildren, and her beloved […]
Someone recently asked me whether I could refer her to a therapist for her twin daughters. Thankfully, I did know a therapist in her state who specialized in treating twins. Easy. Done. But it made me anxious to think I might get asked this question by someone who lives in a state where I don’t […]
Two years ago, I wrote a post about twins’ feeling responsible for their co-twins — for their well being and sometimes, responsible for their failures and mistakes. I have revisited the topic and expanded on it as a guest writer for the Twin Pregnancy and Beyond website. You can read the full article here. Let […]
I was intrigued by a recent opinion piece in the Washington Post, titled, “I’m a mom of twins. The movie Three Identical Strangers changed how I parent them.” It was written by Ellen Nordberg, a mother of identical twin boys. Three Identical Strangers, the moment that everyone remembers I loathe spoilers so I will not […]
When naming my twins, apparently I should have considered the NFL. I’ll explain. E-A-G-L-E-S It has been an exciting week for our Philadelphia-based family, given the Eagle’s Superbowl victory. For days prior to the big win, our five-year-old daughters Eden and Tal overheard lots of discussion about the game. Their preschool teachers even taught […]
See this graham cracker? It suffered unfortunate mishandling by the author of this post. {In my defense, graham cracker sleeves are customarily difficult to tear open. And when the plastic doesn’t open wide enough, the graham cracker breaks. Simple as that.} This very graham cracker inspired me to write about nature versus nurture. Here’s why: […]
Grit. Resilience. You’ve probably heard these buzzwords in the past two years as the current culture of helicopter parenting has come under scrutiny. For me, helicopter parenting is the default — my kids are not yet four years old and I’ve had to hover over them for the first couple years of their lives. When […]
Many siblings feel personally responsible for one another. I found it touching to read about former President Bill Clinton’s relationship with his younger brother Roger (not a twin). In his book My Life, Clinton describes how he felt when he learned that Roger had been videotaped selling cocaine to an undercover police officer. Roger was […]
In my last post, I discussed the challenges twins face in finding their own unique identities. This week, I have tips on how you, as a parent, can help your twin child establish his identity — outside of the twinship. Preschool/Toddler Years I discussed this topic in my post titled “Helping Your Twins Form Friendships […]
In a recent episode of the humorous sitcom Blackish, Pops (played by Laurence Fishburne) is roughhousing with one of his grandchildren who is a twin. “Be careful!” yells Pops’ son Dre (Anthony Anderson), “He’s half of a set…!” In real life, however, I think most parents of twins try to show their children that they […]