If more people understood the complicated dynamics between identical twin girls, the public might be less inclined to treat them as a unit and lump them together. When I work with adult female MZ (monozygotic, or identical) twins, I am amazed and dismayed at their underdeveloped and unsophisticated knowledge of themselves and one another. Since they have had few opportunities to be separate and have primarily shared a peer group, they are shockingly unaware of their personality differences until an external event […]
Tag Archives: identity
An Embarrassment of Riches
In the last few weeks, countless media outlets have reported on the increase in twin births. The latest CDC 2014 data reveals that 33.9 out of every 1,000 births resulted in twins. While 135,336 twins were born in 2014 compared with 138,961 born in 2007, a record percentage of twin births occurred. This statistic is substantiated by the fact that in 2007 only 32.2 per 1,000 births were twin births that year, reflecting that rates for 2014 were actually higher. […]
I Need to Be Right
I have been doing conjoint therapy sessions with various pairs of twins and have been intrigued by the dynamic whereby one twin is hyperfocused on needing to be “right.” One twin in particular demonstrates a persistent urge to feel superior. In fact, one young woman became very upset with me when I responded with understanding and validation to her sister’s perception about an incident. She explained how my supporting her sister’s subjectivity implied that I believed she was wrong or […]
I Can’t Say It Any Better
I have often remarked that parenting multiples involves expansive scheduling along with enlightened thinking. The following article describes how a mom of triplets came to recognize and appreciate what her daughters needed and how she made sacrifices to accommodate each of them. It originally appeared in Multiples of America’s Notebook magazine (Fall 2015) and is reprinted here with permission. WHAT I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN By Sherry Santa, Higher Order Multiples Coordinator, Multiples of America Six years ago if […]
Does Parenting Shift with Zygosity?
Dr. Nancy Segal published an interesting article in the latest edition of Twin Research and Human Genetics titled “Zygosity Diagnosis: When Physicians and DNA Disagree.” A portion of the article is devoted to a mother’s reaction upon discovering via DNA testing that her two-year-old daughters are monozygotic, not dizygotic, as she had previously believed. I am reprinting a paragraph from the article that quotes this mother’s response to this new information. I find what she says perplexing and incomprehensible. Instantly, […]