Twins should not be dressed the same

[Mokel]

My friend has identical twin girls - aged 3, She has never put them in the same clothing. Sometimes when buying a multipack of babygrows, t-shirts - each one wears one of these from the same pack. She is often criticised by people that she should dress them the same. First its none of their business and secondly, they may be identical in appearance but not in personality. People need to treat twins individually.

This thread doesn't demonstrate minding one's own business. When you have twins, it's hard work. Dressing them in a uniform can take some of the stress away.

I sometimes dress my boys in the same clothes. They're 4 years apart.

This is a complete non-issue

Who cares. Leave it to the parents. The children will speak up then are annoyed with their clothes.

Things go through the wash at the same time. And if you’re out and about they can be spotted easily and you always know what they’re wearing cos you’ve got a matching one.

My 2 love to twin. There’s nearly 6’years between them!

My friend has three girls under five, they are always dressed the same on days out, its easier to spot them in a play area etc, it also means if one were to go missing they can show others exactly how they’re dressed.

honestly, who has time to give a damn about what other people's children wear! unless it's a kid in shorts in the snow or something, I wouldn't even notice!

First its none of their business

And it's also nobody's business if parents want to dress their twins the same.

There's no 'should' or 'shouldn't' about it OP 🤷‍♂️

So by this logic all of the twins in the country can’t go to school where there is a uniform. 🙄

I understand why some twin parents do this - they don’t want to create a potential sibling rivalry issue where one child won’t get changed because the other has the preferred item of clothing on. It must be difficult enough without that possibility.

I don’t have twins but one of my kids was super competitive and would have had lots to say on her outfit vs her sibling’s. Luckily her siblings were boys so I didn’t have that issue.

Or people should do what they want and not listen to anyone who says what they should or shouldn't do, including you OP.

What has it got to do with you? Some twins like to be the same, others don’t. I have 2 sets of twins in my family, I don’t see how why they dress can be anyone’s business but theirs (and their parents when they are small).
One of “our” sets wanted to be in different classes at school, the other wanted to be in the same. That is also none of my business whatsoever.

Honestly having twins is hard enough

You try creating two different outfits then dealing with them crying because they are in different clothes to each and want what the other one is wearing.

Usually whilst operating on about 4 hours sleep

My general rule is if you don't have twins you don't get an opinion on what a twin mum is doing just to survive - and can fuck right off

I get you OP but I've never had twins.

I always wondered why people dressed their twins the same until I watched a Dad try and keep an eye on his 2 year old toddlers as they ran in different directions. So much easier to look out for 2 yellow t shirts.

If I had twin toddler they would be matching neon at all times.

Also I quickly discovered that Dtwins don't care about individuality at 3. They care about their twin wearing the T-shirt with the cooler lion / dinosaur on .

In fact DTwins ( now tweens) argued the other day because I bought two new tracksuits in different styles and they both want to wear the same one. They loudly demanded to know why I hadn't bought two of the same

I am not a twin but my sister and I are close in age and I absolutely hated it when our mother dressed us the same.

According to many child psychologists your not supposed to dress twins the same as they need to be seen as individuals however I think its cute at times for photos and occasions.

Hi. Twin parent here (mine are now 7). Sometimes you dress them the same, because if you don't have 2 of some garment or other, then God help you. You will not know about this until it becomes an issue, usually loudly. Other times you dress them differently because one wouldn't be seen dead in whatever the other one is wearing. The next time they may well actually swap garments. Again you will get no advance warning of this.

To add to what someone said upthread, having twins looks like a piece of cake until you have some.

I could imagine swapping clothes around alot to the point they didn't even each really have an individual 'wardrobe', at least when they were very young. I'd say practicality, stuff that's easy to clean and comfortable and easy to whip on/off would be the priority. Personally I don't think I'd deliberately dress them exactly the same. Purely as I'd worry it would make people confuse them for eachother all the more. I'd also imagine that as soon as they develop a sense of self, they'd prefer to look a bit more individual.
I wouldn't hold it against anyone who chose to do it though. I just feel it can look a little cheesy.

No twins, no opinion 🙄

Mine are often dressed the same, it’s hard enough trying to find outfits I like for them, never mind double the amount.

Mind your business.

I completely empathise with this! I have two boys and sometimes can only find one sweatshirt I like so I just get two in different sizes.

Makes life easier

I have identical twins, older now. When they were little they were often dressed the same or similar. I never understood why people had such strong opinions on how I dressed them! Even strangers would comment. So weird, and rude to be honest. No one would ever stop regular siblings and share their opinions on how they are dressed.
They are completely different and have their own personalities, and are not affected at all by being dressed the same when they were little 😂

I’m an identical twin and I really appreciate the OP emphasising you must try and respect a twin’s individuality. Unless you are an identical twin you have no idea what it is like to be compared, contrasted, scrutinised, peered at, judged and categorised from the day you are born.

There are no rules - every child is different. Some twins love to twin and others hate it and that can also change throughout childhood and into adolescence and adulthood. Let me tell you it’s no easy matter when one twin wants to be identically dressed and the other does not. That’s a whole new level of stress.

Dressing twins identically can force people to look for other identifying differences which can often be flaws; that one is the slightly fatter one, that one has a mole there, that one is the less cute one because of the slightly wonky eye/scar etc etc so THAT is how people end up telling you apart.

It’s a minefield and I don’t envy parents of twins - my mother was asked by a particularly lazy teacher to please just put labels on us. That was the 80s though and I hope things have changed.

I’ll be reading with interest.