How to Prepare Twins for Preschool
Practical Advice to Help Twin Siblings Get a Good Start at School
Nov 11, 2008
All children need to be prepared for their first day at preschool. They should be taught to know their names, ages, basic colors and how to hold pencils. But for parents of twins, preparing the children for preschool goes beyond that. They will have to pay special attention to many other areas involving the twins before the big day.
This extra focus is essential because most twins are exceptionally close and have not had much interaction with other young children apart from each other. David Hay, professor of psychology at the Curtin University of Technology in Australia, has some words of wisdom when it comes to preparing twins for preschool.
Ensure Twins’ Language is Ready
Hay says that in the past 70 years, many studies have indicated that twins and multiples, especially boys, may have delayed language skills. Their sentences may be shorter and they may still use baby talk. While this often does not imply any intellectual delay in twins, their inability to express themselves clearly can have an impact in their interaction with other children. Isolation from other children may result. So it’s essential that the twins are ready in the language department before they head for preschool.
Help Twins Develop as Individuals
Many people tend to see twins as a single unit and often treat them as such. But the fact is that each twin is his or her own individual. Hay, who also established the Twins and Multiples website, says there are a few ways to encourage individuality in twins and other multiples.
“Teach the children to be assertive about their names. They are not ‘the twins’ or ‘MichaelandJordan’ but two separate people,” he writes in an article entitled “Preschool Prep” in the March 2008 issue of Practical Parenting, a leading parenting magazine in Australia. Parents should also help them develop their own friends and interests, speak to them as individuals and present them to others as individuals.
Practice Being Apart
Twins who have never been apart may find being separated during activities in preschool traumatic. To help reduce that stress, Hay suggests that parents arrange for twins to have some time away from their other half with separate outings and activities. By not having the twin with them from time to time, the children will be more confident when they have to go about on their own with other kids.
Discourage Comparison between the Twins
While it’s alright to compare the twins’ development with other kids their age, it’s definitely not a good idea to keep comparing the twins between themselves. Single born children are often compared with all the others in a group and so should twins. Make this very clear to the staff and teachers of the twins’ preschool.
Prohibit Dobbing
Children have the tendency to tell on each other and twins probably have more opportunities than others to do so when they get home. Other children do not have somebody watching them at preschool and “reporting” their misconduct to their parents. The same no dobbing rule should apply to twins as well.
Share Concerns with Other Families
Children are often upset if their siblings are invited to a party or outing but they are not. It is even worse when one twin is invited and the other excluded. Parents of twins should talk to other parents about the differences between raising twins and raising single born children so that the other parents can understand the twins’ situation better.
Getting twins ready for preschool is a little bit more complicated than preparing other single born children for the same thing. Parents should ensure the twins’ language skill is ready, encourage individuality in the twins, help the twins practice being apart from each other, discourage comparisons between the twins and talk to other families about the concerns of having twins. This extra planning and preparation will help the children settle in their new social environment better.
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