Twin Parenting Identical Twins Kerfuffles

Posted on January 12, 2012 by No Comments

I seem to be constantly sorting out Twins Kerfuffles. I’ll call them Twinbo’s 1, 2, 3 & 4 because I have two sets.  Note most kerfuffles are between the youngest two (Twinbo’s 3 & 4)

First Kerfuffle of the day  - Toy Cars

Identical Twin Girls wanted to play with toy cars on toy mat but Twinbo 4′s toy car was missing.  Apart from being rudely awoken to the sound of screaming which doesn’t set you off on a happy path for the morning I am now searching through the chaos of stuff to find Hot Rod Red Car with Yellow Stripe.  I have barely opened my eyes nor have I had a cup of tea.  It is no wonder I can’t put my hands on this car when nobody puts their toys back into their places when they have finished! It is only me who puts things back in the right places.  First moan over.

Second Kerfuffle of the day – Tights

Screams over pink flowered tights.  This time it’s Twinbo 3.  She wants to wear the pink flowered tights that Twinbo 4 has already put on all by herself.  I try to persuade her otherwise with a selection of other lovely tights, that doesn’t work.  I see if Twinbo 4 fancies swapping but NO she runs away.  More screams, more tantrums, more frustrations.  The thing is there is only one pair of this particular colour tight so there is little I can do but to try and work some sort of compromise or let upset 4 year old calm down.  She chooses to run into the living room pulling Twinbo 4′s hair on the way and disrupt her older brother (Twinbo 2) instead.  This leads to me separating her from everyone currently in the house to calm down.  Eventually she decides to say sorry to her siblings and settles on another pair of tights.  Deep breaths and I return to unpacking the grocery shopping that has just arrived and they head off to the trampoline.

Third Kerfuffle of the day – Bratz Doll

Blasted Bratz Dolls.  I spend more time dressing and undressing these dolls than I do myself! Twinbo 3 wanted a hair piece fixing to one of her Bratz Dolls.  OK, no problem, bring it to Mummy.  Thing is the hairpiece is elasticated and as with lots of these dolls things aren’t always easy to fix on and when they do fix on they don’t always stay on.  More frustration from Twinbo 3 resulting in throwing doll down in tantrum.  This of course is not her fault nor mine! Eventually and calmly we get Jade on the Mic sorted.  Issue over.

Fourth Kerfuffle of the day – Reading Eggs Tantrums

The girls both wanted to use the website Reading Eggs which is fine because they have use of a computer each however whilst sitting next to one another they soon begin to compete.  It’s ok at first but eventually Twinbo 4 wants to be where Twinbo 3 is and starts to get increasingly more frustrated.  I’m just clearing away the lunch stuff behind them and before I have time to intervene Twinbo 4 has pinched Twinbo 3 because Twinbo 3 won’t be quiet and Twinbo 4 retaliates with a tug of the hair.  Here we go again.  Deep breaths. Sit in between both of them and juggle assisting them both to keep the peace.  All is well eventually.  Fun had, reading done.

Fifth Kerfuffle – Dinosaur Drawings

They both want to draw dinosaurs and princesses.  You see the thing with my girls is that they actually want to be together and do everything together but by doing so they are subjected to the usual working out friendships at such an early age type scenario.  Once again they start off nicely sat together with paper and a huge box of pencils for sharing but for whatever reason Twinbo 4 decides to lean over and scribble on Twinbo 3′s board.  This results in Twinbo 3 shrieking and yelling and we are back in tantrum land.  I can’t even remember how I diffused this situation but I did.

Sixth Kerfuffle – Spilled Drink

Twinbo 3 asks for a drink so I get her a drink and she heads for the chair to sit and drink.  At the same time Twinbo 4 comes flying into the room and knocks into Twinbo 3 who then spills some of her drink on her t-shirt and on to the floor.  More shrieking and feeling cross on Twinbo 3′s part.  So we put the drink down and she runs off to the bedroom screaming I need a new t-shirt, I need a new t-shirt.  So off I go to get a new t-shirt.  New t-shirt on, drink mopped up and the girls decide they are going back outside for a bounce on the trampoline.

Seventh Kerfuffle – Eldest Twins Off Out Again

The eldest twins have been socialising today and the youngest two decided that the second round of this was just simply too much and damn right unfair.  They both decided to aggravate and annoy their elder brother and sister and generally cause chaos prior to them leaving the house. Twinbo 4 took  it the worst and took to hitting the Air Swimmer and despite being told and told again she ignored us and it resulted in Daddy telling her off and removing her from the situation to which she responded with plenty crying and wailing.  So I step in again and tell her that we would have our own outing to look forward to in a day or so when we go to the indoor play area.  Distraction tactics again.  They are still necessary on our 4 year old’s but boy do they wear me out and they don’t always work so easily.

Eight Kerfuffle – Bed Time

This is just a good ole regular slot in our household and it’s largely due to an imperfect arrangement we have at the moment.  Until we can change it, this is how it goes.  Me “it’s sleep time now”.  Bearing in mind we have already had mad half an hour followed by bath and stories.  The response to this will be “that’s not enough stories” or simply both little ones up and jumping on the bed.  How do you cope with this? What discipline can you put in place aside of restraining them and I’m not about to start pinning the little rascals down!

Delaying tactics are in play on their part so we normally have to separate them at this stage and Daddy takes one and I take the other.  Note: We had none of this nonsense with our eldest twins.  So Twinbo 3 gets in to bed and Daddy sits with her while she drops off.  Meanwhile, Twinbo 4 is next to me in the bed and it goes like this. “I need my pyjamas on”(bearing in mind she didn’t want them on before) so I get up and help her with PJ’s.  Back into bed. “I didn’t do a wee”. Back up take her to the toilet. Back to bed “I need some water”. I get up and give her a drink of water”.  Finally, she settles down.  Now, if I did not do this (which I have tried not to on occasions and put my foot down because I see the delaying tactics she is using to avoid sleep) we end up with yelling and shouting and other children disrupted.  I realise that she is avoiding sleep and recognise that many young children get fears around this time especially with their imaginations that include monsters and aliens and much more, so to keep the peace I keep calm and do the ritual and wait for the wriggling to stop as she eventually drops off to sleep.   For me it is frustrating because she isn’t the only child in the house and this is at the end of a very long day.  Sorry, Super Nanny sure I should be much firmer but I’ll do it my way!