by In contrast to having twins as your first children, there are some advantages of having twins that are not your first children. This is the scenario that we faced in our family.
Room to Spare
One of the advantages is that you may have room already in your house because if you already have a child or more, odds are you’ve already up-sized your house, or your living situation. You can likely fit those twins in your house more easily, than if you did not have any kids at all.
Hand Me Downs
A second advantage is that you will likely have some kind of hand-me-downs that you can use with your twins. This could be baby gear like car seats, strollers, cribs, changing tables, etc., or it could be just clothes, that you can then pass on to your twins.
The advantage here is that you may just have to buy one of those things. This is what happened with our twins; we already had some of these basic things, and so we just had to buy an additional car seat, or an additional crib, instead of having to buy two of everything.
Parental Experience
One big advantage of having twins after already having children is that you’ve got the basics down of parenting children; you know what to expect. You know how to handle the logistics, and diaper changes, and feedings, and you know how to handle babies. And so, as they say, twins won’t be your first baby rodeo. Now you just need to master two times the children.
Know What You Want
Another advantage is that you know what you want to do differently with delivery and with raising your newborns, and toddlers since you’ve already experienced those things with your previous child or children. You’ll know what worked well and what did not work, and that can help hone your parenting skills, as you now raise your children when they come two at a time.
(RELATED: Love podcasts? Check out the entire Dad's Guide to Twins Podcast archive for additional twin tips and interviews with twin dads.)
Know What to Expect
Another advantage that you have is that you realize just how much help you’re going to need. You know because you have memories of how hard it was with just one baby in the house. And you can imagine, therefore, what two babies in the house will be, and it’ll push you to get the help that you need by asking friends and family to come and help you on a daily basis.
Little Helpers
Another advantage that you have with older children before your twins are born, is that they can help in age-appropriate ways. Of course, if you have teenage children when your twins are born it’s going to be a lot easier for them to help you, than if you have just a toddler or two in the house when your twins are born. Regardless of the age of your children, odds are they can do something to help, with raising the twins, even if it is as small as bringing a bottle, a diaper, or a burp cloth to help with the babies.
I talk more about overcoming the challenges of raising your twins in my book, the Dad’s Guide to Raising Twins: How to Thrive as a Father of Twins.
This topic was originally addressed on the Dad’s Guide to Twins Podcast Episode 85: Advantages of Twins First vs After Other Children, Newborn Sleeping Arrangements. Original photo by Crystal Marie Lopez
