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Double Trouble
5 Tips to Tackle Twin Fighting By Alexandria Powell
Joni Kirk has 3-year-old boy/girl twins, and they are currently in the fighting stage. "Biting, kicking, hitting it's a normal day in my house," says Kirk, of Moscow, Idaho, who adds that her twins are very sweet to each other when they aren't slugging it out. Kirk thinks the fights likely started in utero, but notes that they've gotten worse in the last year, as her son and daughter became more competitive over toys, friends and attention.
The worst fight so far? Kirk's daughter (who is the larger of the siblings) gave her brother a black eye in a fight at daycare. "Wow! That was embarrassing when I went to pick them up!" she says.
Where does all the down-and-dirty fighting come from? If you're a parent of twins, triplets or more who's starting to worry about the bites, bruises and insults your children inflict on each other, keep reading.
Why the Hostility?"Twins fight. Period," Lyons says.
Twins, after all, are siblings, siblings who have the same age-appropriate interests, have the same toys, enjoy the same television shows and hang out with the same friends. All siblings fight, but multiples are competing for the same resources, while siblings of different ages are more likely to be on different tracks, says Ann Hazzard, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at Emory University School of Medicine.