Five Popular Twin Related Questions

When my girls were small babies, they got attention well because they were very sweet but also because there were two of them riding around in double stroller (which was at the time the size of a small tank).

When my wife and I went out shopping or went for a wander around, most people would just look and smile and then we would here “look twins”. Some, mostly women would come up to us and we would answer the same questions over and over (with a polite smile on our faces):

* “Double trouble hey?”

By far the most popular. This would be when we would laugh slightly (and entertain that we had never heard that before) and say “yes”.

* “Are there twins in the family”?

Now this is a valid question and I would answer honestly and say “Yes both sides of the family have twins in generations before us”. In my mind though I just wanted to say “No, my wife is just very liberal with her eggs”

* “Are they Identical?”

If you put two babies from two different families (or even origins in some cases) I think people would still ask that question. Amy and Lilly are non identical and they do look different but people will ask that question instead of taking a second look, I don’t know why, just human nature I guess.

* “Did you know you were having twins?”

We actually got asked this question a couple of times while Emma was still pregnant which still makes me laugh today and I had to fight back my sense of sarcasm when answering.

Most people asked this question after the birth though. I’m sure this one comes from people looking for a dramatic story or something different from the norm. When people ask I want to go into my pre fabricated story:

We went through the pregnancy only thinking we were having one baby, Emma delivered the baby and she was very relieved and happy until the midwife said “hang on we are not finished here people, there’s another one in there” There would be a gasp and so on….

Most of the time we just say “yes, yes we did know”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it has happened to people in the past (movies dramatise it so I'm sure it does ;) but it isn’t the norm but I think people like a good story.

* One of each is it?

This one is a little personal to us but I don’t know, you may get the same question asked to your lovely twin girls or boys.

When babies are small I guess that they are quite hard to tell their gender but when you clad the little ones in the pinkest stuff you can find that is usually a marker to say girls. My wife used to take offence to this question and she would say “no! two girls” with gritted teeth. Looking at her I could see all of the answers that she could have gave. “Can you not see they are both in pink? Are you blind?” or “are you saying that one of my girls look like a boy?”

WARNING: Never guess a gender of a child in front of the mum, it may cause offence!

Dads (and moms) If you have just found out you are having twins. Firstly congratulations, the shock will die down at some point (so I have been told), and secondly, brace yourselves for these questions and many more to be asked on more than one occasion.