Mother Superior

Danger Dad barely said it.

“Underachiever.”

Our traveling circus of twin-life had just spied a dad with a single baby in a stroller.

I know DD didn’t mean it as a slam on dad-with-singleton, he meant it as comic relief for me. Since pretty much our first month with our twin kiddos, singleton parents have been known as “Underachievers.” I forget when the term was first coined. Probably after 52 hours with no sleep then getting a phone call from a singleton parent friend who wanted to vent about lack of shut-eye. Underachiever. After all, they ONLY had one baby at a time.

I’ll say it: Sometimes (o.k., most of the time, please accept my apology now) I feel superior to singleton parents. I can't help myself. I’m not bragging that I’m Super Mom or anything, but I do feel that if singleton parents had ANY idea what my day brings they might think twice about their lot in life. I see singleton parents rushing around, looking really stressed and seemingly asking me to understand... I can't. It's different for me. This may be one case in life when a blanket statement can be made:

Twins are harder than single babies. It’s just a fact. At least from 0-18 months.

Case in point: Double breastfeeding. Try it. It’s a frickin’ carnival act. We should have charged money for people to watch.

I'm certainly not discounting all the hard work it takes to be a singleton parent. No way. Parenting is a tough job. Really tough. We all deserve Medals of Valor or Purple Hearts or some such however it's hard to listen to singleton parents talk about being tired, stretched too thin, etc. Please, people. You really have no idea.

That being said, I think that twin toddlers may be easier than singleton toddlers. For one thing, they have an instant play-mate/play-date. I can’t imagine having to schedule play dates on a regular basis or introduce a new baby to a “King-of-the-Hill” toddler that DOES NOT want to share the Mommy.

So when we see singleton parents out DD and I nudge each other and just barely say... "Underachiever.”

We mean it in the nicest way.

Hey twin moms and dads... Do you feel superior? Share your story of superiority…