Worse still, the quiet child will miss out on the attention he needs. The trouble with this approach is that children quickly learn that tantrums are an easy way to get attention. With multiple children, it’s tempting to focus on whoever is shouting the loudest. Try to make time for each child individually - a couple of minutes of one to one time before bed is important for both parent and child. Encourage calm before bed by reading a story, talking quietly about their day and giving them a cuddle. It will also give you a chance to have a break and quiet time! RoutineĮstablishing a bedtime routine is vital for all families, but particularly where twins are involved. Relatives, grandparents and older siblings make great playmates because they’re NEW! Five minutes of hide and seek with their older brother is sure to make them forget their troubles. Even a change of scene from downstairs to upstairs can be enough to stop the situation before it escalates.īetter yet, enlist some help. Rotate their activity bring out their favourite toys, some crayons or sit them in front of a new DVD. “In two minutes we will start getting ready for bed and Johnny will put away the Lego while Alex cleans up the racing cars.” Distractionįor toddlers, the easiest way to stop a tantrum is to simply divert their attention. Take turns cleaning up toys and give specific instructions, eg. Without their brother or sister to distract them, they are twice as likely to focus on the task at hand! If preparing for bedtime is difficult, try separating their routine, so whilst one child cleans her teeth, uses the potty and gets dressed, the other does the same in reverse. Wherever possible, the best approach is to separate your twins and deal with their behaviour on a one at a time basis. Twins feed off each other’s behaviour, and so long as they’re happy, they will simply ignore their parents. The Supernanny team has this advice for dealing with some of the most common behaviour issues. Thankfully she has caught them before they found the ON switch! In one of their latest exploits, Helen’s boys have been taking turns to put each other in the tumble dryer and close the door. “You can only focus on one at a time, but they don’t chill out from the moment they wake until they make it to sleep,” she says. She finds their constant need for attention exhausting. Helen Kelter is Mum to a mischievous pair of two year old twin boys. While one child is sitting quietly, the other is likely to be poking his brother’s eye, pulling his hair or throwing a tantrum… Fast forward five minutes and it’s the same scene in reverse. If disciplining one child is a challenge, then disciplining twins is an endurance sport. Twin children may seem to be conspiring against you - particularly when you're outnumbered two to one! Double Trouble Discipline is one of the greatest challenges faced by parents of twins.
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