Any tips for life with 3 year old twin boys?

[minimisa]

I feel like I'm struggling a bit and wondered if those of you with older twins could pass on any useful advice, mainly on how to cope with the fighting / relentless energy / dangerous climbing etc. What do you when they're not at nursery other than relentless circles of the park / soft play area?

I have 3yr B/G twins and would also like this advice.

I have from the very begining (with a sense of optimism) tried to convince them that brothers and sisters look after each other and that they shouldn't hit each other.

We go for long walks and have a trampoline.

I have 3 year old boys......... when they are not attacking each other / their older sister/ eating / shouting they need their botty wiped - they are usually asleep so i have wine.... lots of wine

My 3 yo boys have utterly frazzled me this week. Not so much the risk taking (as one of them is so clingy and a bit of a wet lettuce) but the constant, constant fighting and arguing and whining. It is just so wearing. And crazy, as I know they love each other and can play nicely (on rare occasions).

Tips - find someone in similar situation for a good moan every now and then.

Play dates with one girl toddler are always calming whereas 1-2 more boys can be deadly.

And finally - time away from them, for you to just breathe and drink wine So nursery or a childminder one afternoon a week or something.

Also things to calm them at home include for my terrors boys

Cutting out from magazines (with those plastic safety scissors)
Baking cakes / licking the bowl
Library visits

And tractor ted DVDs send them into a zen-like trance!

Oh dear I feel your pain. I have 4 yo B/G twins. My DS is particularly energetic.

He does seem calmer at 4 than he was at 3 so I'm assuming there qas some kind of developmental thing going on as I remember it well.

My method was to schedule them within an inch of their lives. I always have a plan of the week, taking into account the weather forecast. Nursery, extra cirricular activities, playdates, park trips, museum visits, swimming, looong country walks, visits to castles, baking, story time at the library, crafts, art galleries, scooting/cycling/walking to the shops, dancing in the kitchen etc etc.

We also have quite a lot of play equipment in the garden.

I know that we were out and about more than most of my friends but I really found it helped to keep them busy.

To give you hope, we've really noticed they don't fight as much this year as the last two.

Thanks so much for the moral support and especially to you TooMany for some hope for the future! I take mine out and about all the time but then worry that we don't do enough of the craft type stuff which is just soooooo knackering. Shrew, I like the idea of cutting out from magazines but playdates with single girls are horrendous for me - they make me feel utterly inadequate and the other parent always tends to leave slightly paler than they arrived....