Day One Hundred & Two of Twinipedia Facts
Fact #102
Ah the never ending dilemmas that parents of twins have to tackle throughout their multiple's lives...
- Dress them the same or different?
- Have the same pediatrician or choose separate ones (especially when the twin set is boy/girl)?
- Allow them to have the same friends or encourage their own friendships?
- Send them to kindergarten together or separate them?
- And the ever looming decision as to whether twins should go to the same college or not?... If and when they decide to take that next educational step in life.
Some experts say separation is totally a necessity to be sure that twins learn to be independent and self-reliant. But some experts say that is not so, and twins can carve their own lives and niches at college while still sharing their daily lives in the same place.
Again, this decision seems to fall into the same category as kindergarten decision making. It seems to come down to what is best for each individual set of twins. Plus at this older developmental age, twins can be a bigger part in making the decision about going off to college together or separately. No decision would be perfect and remembering that most decisions are not permanent can ease the minds of many twin parents out there.
My sister and I ended up at different colleges, me in NY and Becca in Rhode Island. Surprisingly, I know that I did not really even think too much about our inevitable separation ahead of time. It was actually the morning of my departure when it really hit me that we were going to be apart, in fact hours away from one another, and would not see each other every single day as we had for our whole lives thus far. And when the final goodbye came, it was like someone punched us both in the gut . We cried like babies. But we both agree now that it was a good choice for us to go to different schools. I was less confident then Becca then and needed some independence to gain more self-esteem. We were also definitely interested in different academic subjects and prioritized education differently so different schools fulfilled our individual needs at the time. We had to do our own thing for awhile. If for no other reasons than to find our "own" selves as well as to come to a point were we appreciated each other as completely as we do now.
Good luck if you are a parent of twins. No one decision will be the perfect decision but all we can do is our best to make good, educated choices!
Here is an interesting article on this decision making dilemma - Enjoy!___________________________________________________________________
College choice is twin dilemma
By Rebecca Kaplan, USA TODAY
When Ariella Korn of Buffalo starts college at Hobart and William Smith this fall, it will be like leaving part of herself behind.
That's because her twin, Elana, will be three hours away at Union College. The 18-year-old fraternal twins have never been separated.
College choices can be "vexing" for twins, says professor Nancy Segal, head of the Twin Studies Center at California State University-Fullerton...
The "going wisdom" is to go to different schools, but "society has to stop putting pressure on twins to separate," Segal says...
To read the entire article, go to http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-07-20-college-twins_N.htm
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