Everyone dreams of having a sibling to play with, fight with, or hang around with. The first child often gets the choice to ask for this, while the next ones already get an older sibling. They are like a combination of best friends and parents. They help as a friend and protect like a parent. Even the health industry experts say that everyone must have at least one brother or sister. But this was about siblings, what about twins? There are very few people who wish for a twin. Twins may seem like a fascinating concept because of the zero-age gap. The two individuals can understand each other without the fuss about being younger or older. However, along with companionship, comes the twin problems.
Some problems are specific to twin siblings, and no other person can ever understand them. We have made a list of all those issues and their solutions so that people can sort them out before it gets out of hand.
Table of Contents
Stupid Questions
People often ask silly questions to little kids just for the sake of fun. But in the case of twins, they hear such questions throughout their lives. Here are some of those questions that can imitate any pair of twins.
Are you twins? This is the most common question amongst twins. It might sound a little sense if they are not identical. However, people ask this to even the identical twins, and all of them are just tired of answering this.
Can you feel each other’s pain? Thanks to all the movies that have raised the concept of sharing pain/physical reactions to one situation. People pinch or slap one of the twins to check how the other one reacts to it. It is sometimes true that twins share sensations, but that is very rare. And such actions only make the pair furious.
Can you read minds? It is common for people who live together and know each other well, to have similar thoughts. It does not mean they have superior telepathic powers. Again from the movies comes another concept of telepathic abilities, which is probably not true in the real world.
You do not get confused? When the twins are identical, it is common for people to get confused between them. But asking them is the most stupid thing they can do.
Out of all twin problems, this is the most common one as they encounter it almost every day. People should stop asking these questions to twins and let them be. For the curious ones, they can find all these answers easily on the internet.
Sharing Belongings
Many parents find it convenient to have twin children because they make a standard schedule for them, which reduces their efforts. Also, they buy a single set of assets and ask them to “SHARE” it. Let it be clothes, toys, or any other thing, twins tend to share more than other people. It sometimes increases the feeling of complexity, or hate towards each other. In some cases, one of the children may think that parents love the other twin more than them.
In such twin problems, parents should treat them as two separate kids and not just one. They should buy different things for them, even if that means buying the same piece twice. (costhack.com) If they have divergent interests, parents should ensure to provide them with things/lessons of what they want instead of standard scheduling. It might be a little extra effort, but that will make their bond better as siblings.
Common Birthday
As said above, parents treat twins like a single child, which goes true for everyone else as well. After the pair start going to school or begin making friends, they host birthday parties. It is often seen that parents throw a joint party, cut a common cake on these birthdays. For people, they bring single gifts for both of them, which further increases the problem. Like the previous one, sharing things or having common parties might not be as good of an experience as people think.
Unlike other twin problems, this one is often hidden and ignored by both the twins and their family and friends. People should start addressing this and keep their birthdays the way they want. If they are happy in throwing a single party, but they want to have separate cakes, bring them that. Or if they’re going to have two different parties with different themes, then parents should manage for that. Otherwise, it will harm their relationship in the long term.
Competition
People often compare kids of similar ages, so the same goes for twins as well. Because twins share most of their schedules, go to similar classes, wear similar clothes, and play the same sports, they end up in competition most of the time. A little competition is always good for kids, but in the case of twin problems, this is no more healthy. With time, things get out of hand, and people see twins hating each other for something that the other one is good at.
For this problem, parents or even people should praise each of the kids for their individual strengths instead of continuous competition. It will make them feel better and not competitive all the time.
Other Problems
It would be tough to count on the endless twin problems that they face at different stages of life. However, we can list down a few common ones that can be avoided by a little effort from the parents’ side.
Attention Issues: We can not deny that parents are humans as well. So it is almost impossible for them to manage their jobs and attend both the kids with equal energies. That leads to several twin problems. The solution to this is that they can plan on activities that they both enjoy, which gives them time to provide them with equal attention.
Separation Anxiety: Most of the twins are incredibly close to each other and stay together for most of their time. So when it is time to separate, they start having twin problems. To avoid this, parents should give them alone time every now and then.
It is not the end of twin problems, and only a pair of twins can tell in detail what all other issues they face. Other people can neither state nor understand these issues, which makes them even more severe. So the parents must take care of both their kids and make sure they do not feel hatred towards each other.
