May 2009

Whether or not you're a parent of twins, you'll enjoy this article. You have to get a chuckle when you read about some of the questions that are asked of multiples and their parents. Maybe you're a little guilty of one or two of them yourself!

The most popular question I'm asked is: "Are they identical?" Now that wouldn't be such a crazy question were it not for the fact that my twins are boy/girl twins. People are just inclined to ask regardless of the sex of the children. Keep in mind that except for rare cases brought on by a medical condition (see link to article below), boy/girl twins cannot be identical.

"So, they were born on the same day?" Again, 99% of the time, there is an obvious answer to this question and it is yes. There are rare moments when twins are born on either side of midnight or in even rarer cases, one is born on December 31 and the other on January 1, but for the most part, twins share the same birthdate.


"Do they have ESP?" Well, I do believe there is a special connection between twins. There are scientific studies which show that twins do have a heightened sense of one another, much like a mother's intuition about her children, but there are no cases of 'twin esp.'

"Is one smarter than the other?" Now, this may be the case with every set of twins, one being more succesful in school than the other, same as singleton children, but it seems parents of twins are asked this question much more often, with the person posing the question expecting a parent to give an answer that would embarrass one of their children.

"Were you able to give birth?" I would definitely have had to give birth to the twins or they would be inside my womb still. This question is not often thought out all the way before asked. What the person is probably asking is whether or not I was able to give a vaginal birth as opposed to Cesarean section.

"Did you use fertility drugs?" This question fall more into the nosey category than silly. Whether one child or twins are conceived naturally or with the use of fertility treatments is a matter best kept privately between the couple involved and their physician. If your inquiring mind wants to know, keep it to yourself.

"Do twins run in your family?" The answer depends on the type of twins you have. Identical twins are not predetermined by any hereditary gene. They are a simply by chance; one egg that splits into two soon after fertilization. Fraternal twins, however, are always maternally inherited. So if the mother of fraternal twins is being asked that question, she can answer 'yes' if she chooses to. If the question is being posed to the parents of identical twins or the father of fraternal twins, then they would have to know a little about their family history before they could accurately answer because their own twins would not be the determining factor. Make sense?