The Life Of Identical Twins

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twinship, the school environment and parental attitude.
Competition, according to Mathias (1992), results from being either envious or jealous of someone else. Jealousy is something that twins probably experience before other children as they are always competing for a share of parental attention. So, identical twins will adopt different strategies to avoid jealousy, since competitive feelings create boundaries between them (Sandbank, 1988).
One of the strategies adopted in an attempt to obtain stimulation and comfort if the parents are unable to meet their nurturing needs, is to each attach themselves to a different parent and adopt that parents' role in their own relationship with each other. One usually takes the maternal, caring role whilst the other twin will become the protector. This allocation of emotional roles may seem like a perfect balance. However, this actually prevents each individual twin from developing those emotional skills themselves that can lead to feelings ...

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support their children in developing their own interests even if that particular hobby or sport is the same as the other twin. This shows a child respect for their wishes, and in this environment healthy competition is encouraged to thrive ( Mathias 1992). Clearly, the relationship between individuality in twins and competition is a complex one recognising special parenting skills in promoting healthy individuality in each twin.
One of the most important decisions parents will make, is whether or not to place their twins together or apart in school. If parents have encouraged individuality then the transition may be experienced the same as a single child starting school (Twin & ...

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