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No Two Alike
Parents of Multiples Fight for Flexible School Placement Policies
By Alexandria Powell
"Most siblings reconcile and deal quite well with issues of being compared," says Mascazine. "The challenge is to help non-twins avoid projecting their expectations to compete upon same-age siblings."
Angela Drinkwater from New York would agree. She is a mom of identical twins and a member of an identical twin pair. She and her sister, Alexandra, got to experience both the same and separate classes growing up. "When my sister was in another class, people would look at me and say, 'Oh, that's Angela, she must be just like her sister Alexandra who is in our class,'" she says. "I feel that when [we were] in the same class, people got to know us as individuals, just as our family that saw us together all the time did." Drinkwater's twin sons are in the same classroom, and she notes that their peers can usually tell them apart right away.
"It's similar to the emotional security parents feel knowing where their children are playing and just knowing they are nearby and safe," says Mascazine. But for many multiples, the bond is even more intense – after all, they've known each other and been physically close to each other since conception! The feeling of stability can lead to a greater ability to concentrate on learning, and can make it easier for children to settle in to school.
