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Twins:

Siblings argue over everything from clothes to shoes to who is the parent's favorite to which one has cooler friends, and more. You name it, siblings can and will fight over it. This is usually even worse with twins (especially identical twins). There are many issues that twins face that most other siblings never even have to worry about. Likewise, there are a lot of things that twins get to enjoy that other kids don't ever get to experience. The following is a sample list of just a few of the many things that twins experience (both good and bad) that parents of non-twins rarely have to worry about:

• The big switch—this is one of those things that is great for the kids, not so great to the parents or teachers. This is when the kids will switch places for a day to see if anyone knows. Most of the time, the twins will not get caught, because even when someone thinks they may have switched, and can tell, they probably won't say anything, because they aren't certain. The only way they would be able to tell is if the parents came up to the school and told them which kid was which. And a teacher is taking a big risk by doing this if they aren't sure, because if the parents take off work to come up to the school to find out that the teacher accused their kids of something they didn't do, the parents would be furious at the teacher. So, most often, even when a teacher suspects that they have switched, she won't necessarily say anything.

• Extreme jealousy—Twins usually experience more general jealousy than other siblings do. There are many factors that can make this worse, including forcing (or trying to force) them to dress alike, expecting them to do the same kinds of things, have the same kinds of friends, etc. It is also important to not pay more attention to one twin than you do the other. This is a battle that your children will have to face on a regular basis, and you won't want to do anything that might possibly add to their issues.

• A harder identity quest—Every child searches for their identity, who they are, what they want out of life, what they want to be when they grow up, and more. All children have to have this time in their life; it is what helps form them as the adults they will later become. With twins, though, it is much more difficult to figure out who they are. They have people constantly telling them to be like their sibling (even if no one says this, the twin will likely believe that others think it), and the entire time all they want to do is pull away from their twin to try to become their own person. This can make things very difficult for a child, because they are a lot like their twin most likely, and when they pull away to try to be something different, they are often heading in a direction they weren't meant to go. This can pose many problems in more ways than one.

• Twins are closer—many people may not realize it, but twins are almost always much closer than other siblings are. They have a bond that no one else can have with them, no matter what. So, no matter how much they argue, fight, try to be opposites, or anything else they do to try to push away from their sibling, they will still be closer than most siblings are when they are getting along.

• The name issue—by giving your twins rhyming names, you are essentially letting them know that they always go together, and this can also hurt their identity. If you wouldn't rhyme the names (or have some other theme) of your other children, why would you do that with twins. It is cute when they are kids, but as they get older they may not like it.



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