In her first post for BornFree Mum & Dad Heather from Young & Younger shares her tips for managing with toddler twins. We’re sure that parents with young children close in age will find this a useful post too!

As my twins, Ez and Fonz, near their second birthdays, we’ve been dealing with the joys of toddlerdom for a while now. I love this stage of their development, where everything is so exciting to them, and their level of interaction goes up every single day, but the switch from baby to toddler has brought new challenges as a parent of twins. Life is less focused around trying to get them to eat and sleep at the same time, and more about behaviour, entertainment and activity. I’m often asked, ‘do they often run in opposite directions?’ The answer is a resounding yes, and it’s just one of the difficulties we’re had to deal with. Ez and Fonz are changing every single day, but for the moment, I’ve found some useful strategies to help cope with the tests they are constantly throwing at me.

Getting out and about

If you can persuade your toddlers to wear reins, good for you – it’ll make crossing a busy car park a lot less fraught! My twins are happy to wear the reins, but resolutely refuse to budge if I dare to hold the reins myself. Generally I carry one child, and hold the hand of the other. We have a strict rule about holding hands near roads or in car parks. One of the most tricky moments is getting one secured in their car seat without the other running off. We have a new rule – the waiting twin must hold onto my leg while I strap the other child in. So far this has been a resounding success.

Playing together

Ez and Fonz fight like cat and dog. With cheaper toys, we often buy two. More often than not, they still fight over the same one, but it can buy us a few minutes peace on a good day. For the more expensive toys, we have just the one, and ‘taking turns’ is a well-used phrase. I sit with Ez and Fonz and they take turns to play with the toy. It’s a concept they now fully understand, and has been great at home and when out and about around other children.

Table manners

Mealtimes with two are often the most stressful points in my day, and rarely do both kids behave at the same time! I try to practice the art of praising good behaviour while ignoring bad, heaping endless praise on the twin eating nicely, and ignoring the twin spooning yoghurt onto the floor and decorating the wall with pasta. I’ve been amazed how quickly this makes the disruptive twin suddenly becomes compliant.

Music to my ears

Twin toddlers are noisy, there’s no getting away from it. But you’ve got a readymade band, so embrace the noise and use music and musical instruments to keep them occupied for five minutes. Nursery rhymes that are great with a partner include Ring A Ring A Roses, Sleeping Bunnies and Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Do you have multiples or young children very close in age? What are your top tips for keeping the peace and making sure everyone has fun? Share in a comment here and we’ll send one person there choice of 2 BornFree Toddler Cups.

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