How to Teach Your Twins to Share

Joe Rawlinson by Joe Rawlinson - April 25, 2017

With twins in the house a big point of contention will be sharing.

Sharing Twins

The easy way for you as the parent would be to get two of everything.

However, this surely won’t work all the time and definitely doesn’t build character. And as we all know, your job as a dad, of course, is to “build character.” Right?

One key to a peaceful and happy home is teaching your twins how to share from a very early age.

Turn Timer

One trick that worked for us was the turn timer.

We used a portable egg timer as the “turn timer”. When our girls would fight over something we’d pull out the timer, declare that it was so-and-so’s turn now and that it would be the other’s turn when the timer went ding.

(RELATED: Love podcasts? Check out the entire Dad's Guide to Twins Podcast archive for additional twin tips and interviews with twin dads.)

Over time, our girls got used to this pattern and even started to self-regulate with their own turn timer by declaring in a loud voice, “Ding. My turn.”

Distract

If taking turns isn’t going as smoothly as you’d like, then try the old distraction technique. Say, “Hey, look at that!” or pull out another toy or delicious food item to distract the sad, I-didn’t-get-what-I-want twin.

Wait a Minute

Especially when your twins are young, their attention span is extremely short. This means two things: First, set the turn timer for a very short time. Second, don’t be surprised if the item they were fighting over is discarded and your twins have moved on to something else rather quickly.

The good news about sharing is that typically, your twins will be sharing better and earlier when compared to other singletons their same age.

Picture by Nate Davis

Further Reading

Dad's Guide to Raising Twins book
Don't forget to pick up a copy of the definitive guide to raising twins. "Dad's Guide to Raising Twins" was written for fathers of twins to help guide you through the first several years with twins. Click here to learn more about the book and get your copy.

6 thoughts on “How to Teach Your Twins to Share”

  1. Joe, this is an excelent tip! I’m from Brazil, and we are at the 30th week of pregnancy (sorry for my English). Me and my husband are reading all the emails with a lot of interest, and you always have a nice word (although, realistic) to say. Thank you very much for this great service you’re doing for us, special parents chosen to have twins!!! ๐Ÿ˜€

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