How to Discipline Twin Toddlers

The challenges that come along with parenting can be overwhelming. How do you keep them from turning into the wild, whining kids that you frown upon at the grocery store? With all things, there comes trial and error. Here are a few tips that have worked for me so far.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• plenty of patience

1. 
    
   Give them a visual of what you are asking them to do.

   PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH. Sometimes it's hard for a 1 year old to hear what you are telling them to do without a visual of what you are asking of them. If you tell your twins it's time to brush their teeth, try showing them also by brushing yours. Kids learn by example and the best example is you. When you practice what you preach eventually it will be easy to just give them a task to perform without hesitation

2. 
    
   Lights off means sleepy time!

   BE CONSISTANT. When you have multiples, you are always running behind one or the other. When one gets settled the other gets fired up. One example of consistency is bedtime routines. My twins know now that when the lights go out and the tv goes off that it's quiet time and time to settle down for bed. Within a few minutes of the lights going out, they are fast asleep. It took several nights of crying and the need to play around before they recognized what those things symbolized. But with consistency they are able to identify lights off with sleepy time.

3. 
    
   When you say

   NO MEANS NO. Get in the habit of sticking to what you say. If you don't want them to do something firmly tell them "no" and stick to it. It will be hard at first because it will take several times of saying "no" for them to understand that it's not ok for them to do something. But your body language and the tone in your voice will eventually show them what you are trying to communicate to them.

4. 
    
   Reinforce discipline with reward

   REWARD. The biggest and most effective part of disciplining twins is the reward factor. A child needs to be given a task and then rewarded when that task is carried out to help them understand that you are proud of them for being a good listener and to reinforce their self esteem after being disciplined. They should never feel like your disciplinary actions are a sign that you do not love them, only that you do not approve of certain behavior. When I tell my twins to do something and they do it, I always say, "good job!" or "big girl, big boy ... you did it!" or "thank you for listening". We also scream "yaaaayyy!!!" and clap our hands. The biggest grins spread across their faces and they are eager to do the things that I ask them to do because of the rewarding phrases and praises that follow. I no longer have to beg the twins to clean up their toys. They now do it because they want to see that I am pleased with what they have done.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to avoid spanking your twins constantly. They will fear you instead of respect you because they will associate you with pain.
• Give them lots of hugs and kisses.
• Don't yell and scream at your twins. They will be frightened and will not hear what you are trying to say to them.