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Safety in Numbers
Corralling Twins and Keeping Them Safe
By Alexandria Powell
Take advantage of equipment like backpacks and strollers for as long as possible. A good double stroller is a twin parent's best friend, Fierro says. "I think that parents of multiples tend to use strollers much longer, with much older children, than parents of singletons ... [It's just] a good way to manage them out in public," she says. The same goes, of course, for triplet strollers, or for the specialty strollers made for higher order multiples.
However, constant stroller use can be confining, Fierro says. Harnesses will get you some stares, but can be a viable option for times when kids need to move around and you just don't have enough hands.
"I was one of those people who thought that using harnesses on children was totally wrong ... but that was before I had twins," Norris says.
Norris' children often use "backpack" harnesses – styled to look like stuffed animals – when walking in crowded areas. "The kids love wearing their fuzzy backpacks, and people usually comment on how cute the backpacks are, rather than giving us the hairy eyeball about leashing our kids," she says. "But if someone says something negative, I usually joke about how we're still trying to teach them how to heel when we take them for a walk!"
Finally, hang in there, says Marna Schacknies, a Maryland-based mom of boy/girl twins. While life with multiples will always be an adventure, the toddler stage will soon pass. "Now that my kids are nearing 3, I have occasional end tables back up with family pictures," Schacknies says. "I have a table cloth on the dining room table. The pantry is now open for business (although the items are used to fill their shopping carts while they pretend to go to the grocery store). See, it doesn't last all that long!"