9 Clever Strategies To Make You Rethink The Way You Parent Your Twin Toddlers.

Wait a minute, how glorious are those toddler days again?

If those little people are a handful when they are alone, can you possibly imagine what it’s like raising twins? The toddler years

have got to be twice the interest, twice joy, twice the stress – just to put things in lamer terms, it has got to be the double

everything you can possibly encounter when raising one of those little boogers, one toddler at a time.

Spoiler: You will need lots of love and be grateful for your helpful circuit. Finally, remember to cherish the experiences, you are a part of the elite group.

Enjoy the read!

I hear over and over, “Wow, I don’t know how you do it.” Honestly, as the mother of identical twin toddlers, there are days when I have no freaking clue either. And yet somehow I manage to keep my precious pair loved and fed and alive so…hooray for me!

 Twin parents are doubly blessed, but with quadruple the stress, especially during the constantly evolving baby and toddler years. While the rewards of raising twins far outweigh the challenges, it’s still a really tough job, one that requires quick-thinking, deep-breathing, and just your typical everyday superpowers.

So how do we badass mamas manage to wrangle two-at-a-time? Well to start…

We do what we have to do. All of those mindful parenting philosophies and brain-development studies are great in theory. If I had one kid, oh sure, I’d totally take the time to patiently explain why we don’t run at our brother with a screwdriver. Unfortunately though, it’s monkey-see, monkey-do around here and trouble happens fast. Twins are always up to some kind of mischief, not because they’re bad kids by nature, but because they have a constant partner-in-crime. So yes, I have to yell at my kids when they’re both about to do something dangerous. And yes, when we go on walks, they wear adorable stuffed animal backpacks (otherwise known as leashes) so I can relax during our stroll, instead of stress about blind alleys and driveways. Their once-adorable nursery now looks like an insane asylum, stripped down to nothing but furniture and bare walls after they pulled down pictures, yanked off knobs, and dangled from wall shelves during naptime. Oh, and they watch at least two hours of TV a day because…because it’s educational. Also, because I’m tired.

We get a workout. You know how kids get when they want to be held all the time? Well, imagine that just when you put one down, another one asks to be picked up? And then it’s “Me too, Mommy” and “My turn” and on and on, until you’re finally like, “Alright, already!” Some days, I swear I spend about an hour, in total, carrying 30 pounds of little boy. So, yeah, my arms are pretty ripped…somewhere under the fat. I also get in some good cardio when I’m chasing one toddler down the sidewalk, with the other guy under my arm.

We put them on a schedule. Well, if we’re smart, we do. From the minute I brought my boys home from the hospital, they were on a strict eating and sleeping schedule. When one woke up to nurse, we got the other one up. We created an entire bedtime routine that we still use to this day. We ultimately did some sleep training too. With twins, you have to get them eating and sleeping at the same time or else you’re going to be up 24 hours a day. That’s not good for you, which in turn, is not good for them. Even now I put my boys in their room for “quiet time” every day, whether they choose to nap or not.