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Harried Holidays
Making It Through the Season With Multiples By Jenn Director Knudsen
Taking your twins along for a holiday shopping excursion? "God help you!" says Karen Hill, laughing, a 30-year-old mom to 3 1/2-year-old fraternal twin girls.
She qualifies that statement, however, by offering, "It can be fun and joyful if done in small bursts."
The holidays, filled with family traditions, are upon us again. But with multiples in tow, the holidays can be traditionally tough. Shopping with and for and traveling with more than one child the same age has its unique challenges. Below, experts and parents of twins and triplets discuss some of the problems and offer tips on how best to sail through this difficult season.
Hill says shopping with her twin girls can not only be embarrassing, but dangerous, too, if, for example, one child melts down in a store or parking lot and tries to run away. "With one child who loses it, you can pick [her] up and walk out," she says. But with two children the same age, it's not quite that easy.
William Laut, 45, a stay-at-home dad of 5-year-old triplets – two boys and a girl – says if he decides to take his group shopping, he gives them a pep talk first. "I get down on my knees right in front of them," says Laut of Hudson, Ohio. Then he tells his children the behavior he expects of them. "And you hold them to it," he adds; if they misbehave, he piles them back into the minivan and returns home.
Laut, co-author of Raising Multiple Birth Children: A Parent's Survival Guide (Chandler House Press, 1999) and a facilitator at the recent At-Home Dads Convention outside Chicago, says the family usually splits up for shopping missions. His wife will take two children with her while Laut takes the third with him. Otherwise, he says, it's a little overwhelming listening to three little voices "chirping" at you.
One tip he has for parents of multiples is to dress the children in brightly-colored clothing. That way, you won't lose track of your tiny kids among tall clothing racks and shelves of toys. "If they're wearing a chartreuse T-shirt, all of a sudden you can spot them a lot easier," he says. Also, one shouldn't be above using leashes, he says. "I hate to say it, but I used leashes; it's for my peace of mind."
If it just gets too complicated, go online, says Diane Collins, a Bel Air, Md., mother of a 13-year-old and 4-year-old triplets. "I do lots of holiday shopping online," says Collins, 41, who works full-time and whose husband stays home with the kids.
