Have you ever wanted to know what it is like to live your life as a twin? Everyone is fascinated with twins, both identical and fraternal twins. There are always so many questions for adult fraternal twins
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that the proportion of confinements resulting in a multiple birth has remained fairly consistent for the past decade, ranging from 1.5 to 1.6% of total confinements. In 2017, there were 4,528 confinements resulting in a multiple birth. 60 of these were triplets or higher order births. There were 50 less multiple births in 2017 than in 2016.
Recently we interviewed Jacqui, a fraternal twin with her sister Clare, living on the East Coast of Australia, to find out what it is really like to live as a twin. Here are the questions for adult fraternal twins that we asked.
Questions for adult fraternal twins: Do you think and dress alike?
My sister and I are absolute complete opposite. I wore pink and she wore blue. She rode BMX bikes and I had a flower bike with a basket. We thought like we dressed, with Sarah loving sports when I was more into music. We are both in our forties now, and things have not really changed. I think because we were, and still are, so different there were many arguments when we were growing up, but we were still strangely very close. I think when you are a twin, you have an embedded connection with each other that you both respect. Even though sometimes, it might seem like you come from different parents, just like any siblings I guess.
Have you ever had any ‘freaky’ twin moments you can share?
Yes there are plenty of those, LOL! One time in particular, a few years back now, my sister and I lived in different cities and a mutual friend of ours had a baby. We both separately sent her a baby gift and without knowing it, we had chosen the exact same teddy bear. This type of thing happened a lot, I have always put that down to having similar taste. I also have a six sense when my sister isn’t well. It’s like I can feel what she feels.
Do you have twins in the family?
We have a lot of twins on our mother’s side. My grandfather was a twin and both my mum and aunty had fraternal twins, so yes it definitely runs in the family. I researched this once to see how much I could uncover. According to a recent study they have identified genes that indicate that fraternal twins are more likely to run in the family which makes sense in our family.
Check out more about Jacqui’s finding HERE.
What’s your thoughts on having twins when you are a twin?
This is a common question I get asked and this is definitely a possibility being a fraternal twin. I have met plenty of twins who have had twin babies. The difference though is identical vs. fraternal. In the research I did, there is plenty of data to back up the link with non-identical twins, like fraternal, but there isn’t any supporting evidence on identical twinning being inherited. There are a lot of myths about twins skipping generations and twins running in the family, but nothing concrete.
Questions for adult fraternal twins: What do you like best about being a twin?
Growing up we had a lot of the same friends as we were the same age which I liked. We also understand what each other are going through, you know with our various life stages because we have literally gone through them at the exact same time. Always really beneficial to be able to reach out and download your challenges with someone who completely gets it. I have a son that was born the day before our birthday so we always have a great birthday week with lots of celebrations.
Jacqui has provided some great insight into growing up as a twin. Like any sibling relationship, it does have its advantages, and disadvantages, but being a twin provides you will the valuable advantage that you will nearly always have a friend for life!
Read another Twinterview with 32 year old identical twins – Kimberly and Jemma HERE
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