The safety of your twins should be one of your top priorities. As such, twinproofing your home is something you need to do.

What is Twinproofing?

Twinproofing is how you childproof your home when you have twins. Having twins in your home requires special safety considerations.

You Need Basic Childproofing for Twins Too

The classic tips on how to childproof your home also apply with twins.

As a basic strategy, try to prevent your twins from accessing, reaching, touching, or discovering anything that can do them harm. Expand your mind as you look at your home.

Get down on your hands and knees so you are at your kids’ level and look around. Analyze your home and see what trouble you can get into and what things you can reach that you didn’t think about before.

The kitchen and bathroom are areas where you need to be very cautious because of the overabundance of potential hazards (water, chemicals, sharp objects, etc.).

In the rest of the house, look at power outlets, cords, drawers, shelves, window blinds, and anything else that can be reached by your twins.

Regular Childproofing Isn’t Enough

While general advice on childproofing your home works for twins, you can’t stop there. Twinproofing your home requires extra vigilance and prevention.

Singleton babies can only do so much damage by themselves.

Twins, on the other hand, take mischief to a whole new level.

Keep in mind that each of your twins is an individual. This means that each of your twins has their own thoughts, imaginations, and crazy of ideas of how to get into trouble.

If one your twins doesn’t come up with a creative way to get into trouble, his or her sibling will. Once that idea is formed, it will be immediately shared with the other sibling and you’ll have double trouble.

Two little minds working together to reach the forbidden object or open the off-limits drawer can quickly invent a method or solution to get what they want.

Twins Enable Each Other’s Mischief

Your twins will be each other’s partners in crime. Twinproofing means you need to account for what your twins can do, not just by themselves, but with each other’s help.

Twins will help push each other up to places one can’t reach. Twins will combine their strength to break things. Twins will both squeeze into places only meant for one.

Look at your house from a new perspective: your twins’ view. What trouble could you cause if you were their size and had a ready accomplice to join your adventures?

One danger zone to consider is the door. Your twins will chase each other around the house and one will turn and slam the door on the other twin. Little fingers or toes can easily be smashed when this happens. Childproof your doors with simple finger pinch prevention devices you can buy at the home improvement store that keep the door from shutting all the way.

You’ve got your work cut out for you. Start twinproofing your home today and you’ll get a head start on your curious, and often mischievous, twins.

Picture by Cheryl

As a father of twins, you want to bond with your twins and build a strong, lasting relationship.

The key to this bond with your twins is to spend one-on-one time with each of them individually.

If you spend all your time with both twins, your attention will be divided.

Remember that your twins are individuals and each has his or her own personality and quirks.

Bonding with Infant Twins

The best time to bond with infant twins is when you are helping with their daily necessities.

Take the opportunity when you are feeding, changing diapers, or dressing your twins to talk with them and focus on them individually.

When our twin girls were still infants, I loved to take turns feeding each one. As they slowly drank their bottles, I could study their faces and expressions and talk with them about the great future that was (and is) ahead of them.

Bonding with Toddler Twins

My favorite bonding activity with toddler twins is to take them out one at a time to lunch. You can have father/son or daddy/daughter lunches with each of your kids too. I’ve found that getting out of the house with one of the twins helps focus all my attention on that one child and is a great way to build and strengthen my relationship with each child.

If lunch doesn’t work for you, consider other outings with just you and one of your kids. This could be a Saturday activity, an errand to the store, or another time together that best meets your schedule.

Make these one-on-one times a routine event and your kids will look forward to this tradition with Dad.

Regardless of the age of your twins, you can make time for each individual child. This time focused on each child will be the foundation of a strong bond and lasting relationship with your twins.

(Picture by redagainPatti)

At every stage of your twins’ progress, from pregnancy onwards, there will be challenges.

You’ll deal with physical burdens, mental strain, marital frustrations, discipline issues, feeding problems, and tons of messes.

One way to keep your sanity is to remember that the current moment is only temporary.

There is an extra heavy dose of craziness with twins. Just remind yourself that it is only temporary and things will improve.

Your twins will mature and become easier to care for.

You will mature as a parent of twins and learn how to deal more easily with your twins.

I’ve noticed that things come in cycles with twins. You get a new challenge. It blows you away. After a short time you’ve adapted and it becomes normal for you.

Just when things start to work smoothly, something else happens to break the routine and you repeat the cycle.

This is a natural evolution with twins. Each challenge is often just for a season. You won’t have to feed your twins in the middle of the night forever. Likewise, when you potty train your twins, they will eventually master that skill — just like we all do.

Remember: right now is only temporary. You can deal with the challenge of now. You can handle the challenge that tomorrow brings…tomorrow.

Enjoy each moment. Before you know it, your twins will be teenagers with a new set of challenges. Then you’ll look back and think how easy it was to just change a pair of blow-out diapers or clean up a spit-up mess.

If you use color-coded clothing to tell your twins apart, keep in mind that this won’t last forever.

We dressed our girls differently for several months after they were born. This helped us tell them apart at a glance and helped others tell our twins apart, as well.

However, our little twin babies started to grow up and have an opinion on what they wanted to wear.

What did they want to wear?

Each other’s clothes, of course.

When your twins are small infants, you can dress them in whatever you want. However, as they get bigger, you’ll find that they will start to resist your choice in outfits.

This happened to us at about a year old. By that time, all of us and our friends and extended family were used to the colors of clothing used to distinguish our twin girls.

Habits with that long of a history are hard to break.

I could no longer walk into a room, see a girl dressed in pink, for example, and assume it was the right daughter.

I constantly called out the wrong name to the wrong girl.

Take heart, because by the time your twins have an opinion, there will be plenty of other things to help you tell them apart.

Personalities will be totally different. Your twins’ voices and speech will be different. Physical looks (even on identical twins) will be different – especially to the trained eye of a twin parent.

This, like everything with being a twin parent, requires flexibility. Be flexible. Change when you need to and you’ll be better for it!

Taking your toddler twins on a road trip requires some planning and patience.

We recently took a road trip across the country that ended up being 54 total hours in the car. Our family of six with toddler twins in tow did great and yours can, too.

Think Attention Span

Road trips with toddler twins are all about maximizing their attention span. Instead of a few activities or distractions that could occupy lots of time, think about lots of activities that have short durations.

Change Seats

Try shuffling car seats around during your trip. Perhaps this can be done every day you are driving or whenever you stop for a meal. We found that when the kids had a new environment in the vehicle, it helped keep them happy. The bonus was that when the kids argued over who got to sit where, we could appease them with the promise of moving seats later.

Road Trip Toys

Your toddler twins probably already have tons of toys. The toys that will best serve you on a road trip are new ones. New toys seems to grab your kids’ attention more easily than one they have been playing with the last several weeks. (That being said, if your twins are attached to a favorite toy or stuffed animal, don’t force them to give it up in favor of something new.)

Try digging up some old toys they haven’t seen in awhile. Alternatively, go to the dollar store and pick up some cheap new toys that would be easy to play with in the car.

Don’t give all the toys to the kids up front. Pull them out strategically during the road trip so you can maximize their distracting power.

Road Trip Books

As with toys, bring books your kids either love or haven’t yet discovered. Visit your local library and load up on books that you can take on your trip. If your kids don’t independently look at books of their own volition or if you get carsick sitting backwards and reading to the littles, try read-along CDs. You remember those, right? The ones with the chime when it’s time to turn the page? They can be found at just about any bookstore as well as at libraries.

Road Trip Music

Have favorite songs that your toddler twins like to listen to in the car around town? Time to make a Road Trip Playlist. The scenery will pass more quickly if the kiddos have a groovy tune or two to sing along with. Add a few of Mom and Dad’s favorites and introduce the kids to songs you like while you have a captive audience. Get loose and maybe even a little silly, and you’ll make some good memories with your kids.

Road Trip Games

Toddler twins might be too young to enjoy traditional road trip games like Road Trip Bingo or the ABC game where you look for letters on signs and cars. Nevertheless, they can probably look for trains, cactus, windmills or other obvious features that you can turn into an ‘I Spy’ game.

Food

Pack some healthy snacks that you can pull out at the opportune moment during the trip. You don’t want to have to stop every time the kids are hungry. Load up a cooler or bag with food to help you get further down the road before you have to stop. Food is always a good bribe for good behavior as well.

Put a Parent in the Back

Traditionally, Mom and Dad ride up front in the car. On road trips, try putting one parent in the back with the kids. This will work more easily if you have a mini-van or SUV. The kids are distracted because “Hey, Mommy is sitting by me.” The parent can then play with the kids or read stories to them.

Be sure both Mom and Dad take turns rotating with the kids to help maintain parental sanity.

Movies

When all else fails, you can use movies. Get a portable DVD player or iPod or whatever you have and let your kids watch movies. On our 54-hour road trip, we managed to go all but the last six hours before we needed to pull out the movies. We simply kept our toddler twins (and their older brothers) occupied with the aforementioned activities.

It won’t take long before your kids realize that there’s a difference between driving to a play date and spending a significant amount of time in the car on a road trip. It’s okay to let them get a little bored. It’s okay for you to not be thrusting the next activity in front of their faces as soon as the current one is over. You’ll smile as you see them get creative with entertaining themselves.

Good luck and happy trails!

Getting your twins ready for bed is often an adventure. Regardless if your twins are newborns or toddlers, you will have the daily responsibility of getting your twins ready for bed.

Here are some tips I’ve found useful for getting our twin girls ready for bed:

Bed Time Routine

Consistency and a familiar routine are essentials for a successful bedtime with your twins. Review your current bedtime routine and see where it differs from what you did yesterday. Think about how you can standardize bedtime so your twins know what to expect every day.

Our toddler twin girls follow a predictable pattern every night:

1. Baths
2. Put on pajamas
3. Read stories
4. Brush teeth
5. Floss teeth
6. Have family prayer
7. Go potty
8. Go to the bedroom
9. Say prayers
10. Tuck in to bed
11. Mom or Dad sing them songs
12. Good night and shut door

There is comfort in the familiar and repeatable pattern they go through every night. It reduces fighting because they know what to expect.

We have also found it helpful to have bedtime at a consistent time every night. For us that is between 7:00 and 7:30. Granted this time varies when we have evening activities or plans that take us out of the house. Nevertheless, when we follow the pattern and stick to the routine time, the twins (and their brothers) do really well.

Tag Team the Twins

If your twins are in the routine and pattern, it will be possible to have only one parent help with bedtime. However, if your twins are still infants, you’ll find the process goes much more smoothly when both parents help.

As with most things, having two sets of adult hands is always helpful with twins. But if you are by yourself, don’t worry. You can always put one twin to bed at a time.

Peer Pressure

Leverage the power of positive peer pressure with your twins. If one twin isn’t cooperating, help her twin get ready for bed while showering her with positive attention for compliance. The resistant one will likely follow.

Pick Your Battles

Bedtime with twins can be a challenge, particularly if your twins park their heels like stubborn mules. Not all steps in the getting-ready-for-bed routine are necessary every night. Your twins will be OK if they skip baths for a night or don’t floss their teeth for a night. Be patient and compromise with choices, such as “Do you want to brush your teeth or floss?” instead of caving to their “No!” demands.

Good luck! The sooner the twins are in bed, the sooner you can rest too!

Having twins means you will be doing more laundry. Just how much will depend on each twin, but I’m confident that your laundry will at least double. And no, not just double because there are two. It will likely double from what you are doing right now for the entire family.

We went from a family of four to a family of six when our twins were born and we doubled our laundry even though we only grew our family by 50%.

You will see several peaks in dirty laundry during your twins’ early years.

Newborn Twin Laundry

Newborns will have peaks of spit-up episodes and blow-out diapers that will cause you to change each baby multiple times a day. Take into account that you’ll also be washing burp clothes, blankets, and mattress sheets when these accidents occur.

Oh, and your twins will likely find joy in having these accidents while you are holding them. So count on washing your clothes, too.

Solid Foods and Laundry

Once the twins start feeding themselves, they will also need multiple changes a day since they will be covered in food. Even if you strip them down or use bibs during meal time, they will find a way to soil their clothes.

And like with leaky diapers, food messes are easily shared with those around the table. Expect to wash at least one outfit of your own clothes worn while feeding the twins.

Potty Training Laundry Increases

When the twins start potty training, your laundry volume will peak again. As they master their potty skills, your twins will go though multiple outfits a day due to accidents. If you don’t have a huge stack of clean underwear and pants, you will have to wash them everyday just to keep up. Even if you have extra clothes, you’ll probably want to wash the soiled clothes just to kill the smell.

Also consider any towels you use to clean up accidents. We found that during the early days of potty training our twins, the combination of accident-soiled clothes and clean-up towels easily created a daily load of laundry.

Prepare for the Laundry Avalanche

Prepare for double the laundry, detergent, and water bill. We found ourselves running the laundry almost every day with newborn twins. Soaking baby outfits don’t smell the best if you leave them in the dirty clothes hamper. So even if you don’t have a full laundry load for your machine from the kids alone, you’ll likely combine it with other household laundry to get a fresh start on the next day.

A wonderful advantage of twins is built-in peer pressure. Be it good or bad, you’ll find your twins mimicking or following each other.

If left unchecked, this can become a downward spiral of bad behavior. On the other hand, with some gentle guidance and praise, it can encourage good behavior.

Fortunately, you can leverage your twins individually to help the other do what you would like.

There is a very powerful psychological tool known as social proof. We like to go along with the crowd. It is safe and reassuring. Social proof is a tool that is irrespective of age.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Even from a very young age, your twins will look to each other to see what they should be doing.

Is one twin jumping on the bed? It won’t take long for the other to start jumping, too.

Is one twin playing with her food? Don’t be surprised to see her sister making the same edible artwork on the kitchen table.

Praise Positive Behavior

As I’ve discussed before, it is fine to handle each twin one at a time. This is a key step in using positive peer pressure.

When one twin isn’t doing what you’d like, try this:

1. Ignore the bad behavior. Don’t react to it.
2. Turn to the other twin and immediately praise what she is doing well. Be sincere.

About 80% of the time when we try this, the “bad” twin will stop the bad behavior and try to mimic the “good” twin to get the same verbal or other praise, like a hug, a pat on the head, or a big smile. (For the other 20% of the time, there’s always re-directing their attention or even time out.)

Ignoring bad behavior and reinforcing good behavior isn’t a natural response but it works like magic. It is definitely worth practicing until it feels more spontaneous.

My wife and I have had great success using the principles of the book The Power of Positive Parenting in helping to discipline our twins. It was in this book that we learned this “trick” that has served us well even with our girls still very young.

One of the joys of twins is that they learn to share early in life. Faced with a constant companion that often wants whatever limited resource is at hand, your twins will share or fight.

The sharing moments make you smile, verbally praise your kids, and feel satisfied that they will turn out OK in the end.

However, these blissful moments often end abruptly with fighting over the same toy.

You’ll probably prefer the sharing to the fighting.

Turn Timer to the Rescue

One trick we’ve found very helpful with our girls (and our other kids) is the turn timer.

The turn timer is simply a kitchen egg timer.

When the kids argue over a toy, game, movie, time with mommy, the swing, etc., we pull out the turn timer and set expectations. “It is so-and-so’s turn now. When the turn timer dings, it is so-and-so-else’s turn.”

We’ve set the timer for a minute or two based on how long we think our child’s attention span is.

We’ll follow up starting the timer by asking the kid with the coveted item: “What happens when the timer dings?” and make sure they understand the turn-taking process.

Yes, your twins get plenty of opportunities to share between themselves and other siblings. However, they still need some help and structure to get them in the good habits you are hoping to help them develop.

It does baffle me that the kids will often listen to a small kitchen timer instead of just being obedient when Mommy or I ask them to do something. Oh, well. There is nothing wrong with some extra tools in the parenting toolbox.

Try the turn timer the next time your kids need a little help sharing.

Do you already use the turn timer method? How has it worked for you? Have you had success with something else?

Picture by Ross

The time has come to potty train your twins. You’ve got your stash of supplies and are ready to go.

Let the games begin.

Potty training your twins really comes in two phases: teaching the skills and daily practice.

Decide Which Parent Will Train

Which parent should potty train the twins? You need to decide based on what makes the most sense in your situation. My wife and I took turns with each of our boys (singletons) and we decided that she would potty train our twins.

This step is all about expectations. Even though one of you will do the official training, the other spouse will need to support the trainer and reinforce the right behaviors for the trainees as well.

One At A Time

Feeling overwhelmed at the thought of training both twins at the same time? Take heart: it is fine to train each twin one at a time.

You Have to Teach Them

Your twins will not naturally know how to use the potty. They won’t know how to pull down their pants, sit on the toilet, use the toilet paper, pull their pants up, and wash their hands unless you show them. These very tactical skills are essential to potty training and too often parents assume that kids just know how to do it. You need to set aside a day to teach and practice these basic skills.

Pick The Day

Look at your calendar and set aside “potty training day” for one of your twins. Mark it on the calendar and start talking to your child about that day. Get them excited about potty training by taking them to the store to pick out “big girl underpants” and help them prepare for the big day.

Potty Training Day needs to be a day when you are free from distractions and other obligations. You need to dedicate all your attention to the process and focus 100% on your child on this day.

Learning the Skills

As I’ve mentioned before, the book Toilet Training in Less Than A Day has fabulous step-by-step instructions on how to train your child.

It starts with your child “training” a doll that can wet herself. Your child will help the doll to learn how to use the potty. In so doing, she will learn the steps herself.

After the doll exercise, you will need to have your child drink lots of fluids throughout the day. The book’s method uses positive reinforcement so it rewards the child when she has dry pants.

Accidents are followed up with practice drills reinforcing how to run to the potty, getting on the potty, and then repeating the process.

By the end of the day, your child can physically use the toilet by herself. Truly amazing.

Continual Reinforcement

After the mechanics of potty use are mastered, you will need to constantly praise and reinforce your twins during the subsequent weeks and months. Over time they will become more self suffient but be sure to stick around and support them until they can go unprompted and unassisted.

Positive Peer Pressure

One of our girls wanted to potty train and the other parked her heels and refused. So we trained one and left the other in diapers.

However, as the diaper-laden girl saw all the attention and praise her sister was getting, she quickly wanted to train, too. One advantage of twins is that once you get one doing what you like, you can leverage that peer pressure to influence the other.

Have you already potty trained your twins? What methods worked for you?