When do you tell them they are twins?

I know this sounds stupid and maybe it is, but, because mine are fraternal and so dissimilar but we don't focus on them being twins. Right now, they know they are brothers but IMO, in their thinking the relationship is equivalent to what they have with their older brother. At what age do they realize it is something different?

 

Mine know they are twins and that means they were in my belly at the same time. They know b/c they can remember their little brother being born and they know he doesn't have a twin. Also, people always call them by the wrong name so they used to think being a twin = being identical. But now there are a set of boy/girl twins in their class so they frequently tell me about the twins in their class but those twins are not a girl and a girl.

 

Probably around 2 1/2? It didn't matter to me, but the daycare started calling them "the twins", so we just went with it. Now that they've gotten older, we've specified more than just the word "twins" but what makes them twins-being inside at the same time, same birthday (not always), some twins are same sex, some opposite sex, and what differentiates twins from triplets/quadruplets. Next on the agenda, Nadia Sulemon.

 

We've talked about it off and on for a while now, I just don't remember exactly when we started. They know that I means they were in my belly together. (They even know where they were since they asked I showed them. Baby A was always low and to the left. Baby B was high and to the right.) They are still sometimes confused why everyone doesn't just have two babies. As DD pointed out recently, if there are two then you can just share. LOL!

 

We have always told them they were twins. Plus preschool refers to them as "the twins" and so do the kids. Luckily they are in seperate rooms so they have some individual identity. One of mine will say he is a twin but the other one when asked says NO!!! He is NOT a twin. Connor is his friend not his twin.

 

We've always talked about them being twins but I would say they didn't really grasp what that meant until Emmett arrived. Now it mostly means to them that they were in my tummy together.

 

I have just started talking about this to them. We have a lot of friends with babies right now so they're curious. Then at twin group they occasionally see a mommy with two babies instead of one so I have started talking about it. I don't think they get it yet.

 

I found a board book about twins that I started reading to them when they were around 18 months old or so. I'm not sure they really understand it, but they also have some cousins and aunts who are twins, so we sometimes say "they are twins, just like you guys".

 

:ibiggrin:

More or less this, except it wasn't the daycare staff who called them "the twins," it was the other parents. But I think they've just sort of always known. I think it started to mean something to them when they realized that their daycare friends had siblings who were older/younger, but none who were the exact same age.

Also, their twin cousins were born when A&S were just turned 2, so I imagine we started talking about it a lot more.

They will still ask me who was where in my belly, or talk about how Amy was sitting on Sarah's feet. :ibiggrin:

 

It's funny, it just never came up and no one used the term "the twins" for whatever reason. One day (just before 3 I think) it came up and I asked if they knew they were twins and what that meant. They knew they had the same birthday but didn't realize that was a special thing. Anyway, my mom has a big fish tank and one day one of them talked about the "twin fish" in her tank. They were two matching fish. The boys are fraternal and I coordinate clothes but I don't think they realize their clothes are similar. Anyway, it was just interesting they did that. Now we have a third, and a girl, so they really seem much more like a unit or pair but before it was just 2 kids.

 

I think mine know. I talk about it in the house and to them in a very casual way like it's just a part of life. Some kids have twins, some don't. it's just how it goes like some kids have a brother or sister or more, while others don't have any siblings to share their lives with. It was never a big deal to me that they are twins. Of course I love that they are twins, but I didn't make it an issue to concern anyone with. If they ask questions about it, I'm more than happy to answer them as detailed as I can.

I think I get my attitude from my mother. She was told to tell me I was adopted the day I was brought home. I heard the word growing up and I knew I came in to the family in a different way than my brother. I was never upset or surprised by it because I heard all about it growing up. When my mother sat me down to explain further as to what adopted meant, it was already familiar to me. Adoption and telling your kids they are twins are two completely different things, but by talking about twins and about them being twins in a casual way like my mother did about my adoption, it will not be a surprise for them to find out they are twins as they grow up.

 

I haven't, but we get asked if they are twins all the time, so they probably know, lol.

 

My two still dont really 'get it' I tell them they are twins and Ryder will argue with me that they are NOT! But to them it just means that they have the same birthday. Ryder likes his older sister more then his twin sister for what ever reason...so he pretty much wants nothing to do with Reese especially being her twin. :laughing:

 

I think my girls have always known. We don't use the word twin much at home, but we talked about them being in my tummy at the same time and that made them twins. When they started school at age 3, the other kids and a few teachers started calling them "the twins". We actually asked the teachers not to refer to our kids as "the twins" since we don't want them to think they're a set. But people ask all the time if they're twins when we're out shopping and my girls seem pretty excited to say that they are.