What is it like to be a twin?

[Tftpoo]

I have ID boys who are 14 months old. We don't have any twins in the family and I don't have any friends who are twins. I'd love to understand the twin - twin relationship better and am wondering if any of you are twins, particularly identical twins, and would mind sharing what it's like to be a twin? What are the best and worst bits?

21 year old (female) twin here :) I don't have any other siblings apart from my brother so I can't really compare to non-twin siblings but I'd say we're really close. When we were younger we used to finish each other's sentences or say things at the same time and we often accidentally buy the same birthday card or whatever for our mum/dad... The worst bit was definitely when we were at school and we were in the same classes - I felt like there was no escape from him!! I love him to bits though and I'm glad we've got a special bond :) x

Non-ID twin here (both girls).

I love it, although like DieS I don't have any other siblings to compare our relationship to. We are very close now as adults and always have been really.
We asked to be put in separate classes at secondary school so made our own friends but by 6th form drifted naturally back together.

It is important that they are allowed to be their own person and not always seen as 1 of a pair. The 't' word was banned in our house!

Thanks for your replies. It's interesting to hear what it's like to be a twin. I am slightly dreading what to do when they start school - making the decision whether to put them in the same class or different class - but hopefully by then we'll have a good idea of what their personalities are like and whether they want to be together or not. We try not to refer to them as 'the twins' and encourage others around us not to either but it's a bit difficult with grandparents sometimes!

I'm an ID twin and we are close (22 now). We still argue and bicker as we did as kids but I don't think that'll ever change for us! We were in seperate classes throughout school barring reception class and tbh we much preferred that. It enabled us to make our own groups of friends rather than being together 24/7. We still meet up fairly often too. It was sometimes a nightmare in school having teachers just blurt out a name in hope of getting it right and having to say which one it is on the phone but no biggie. My twin once told a boy her name was mine AND gave him MY phone number so you can imagine my confusion when I had a boy stop me in the street and ask why I haven't said hello or acknowledged him

Twin (some debate as whether we are ID or non ID - think its probably non ID but we are v much alike). We have both gone on to have a set of non ID twins ourselves .

Growing up it was brilliant. Very close - especially if you are the same sex, you end up doing the same hobbies / activities together (we were both sporty so both picked for the netball / hockey / tennis teams etc, both in Brownies / Guides, both very similar abilities so in the same sets etc). She was just my constant. Always there. Some different friends as we got older but always in the same class, only changed when we did different A levels. The closeness is (imo) much closer than siblings because you share so many experiences simply because you're in the same class, same year, go to Uni at the same time etc. Its that shared joke. I can tell exactly what she is thinking just by looking at her. The fun we've had by swapping names, speaking to one another's boyfriends on the phone (we also sound very alike) . I still answer to both names as people used to mix us up so often.

Uni - different places, felt on one hand that I was free to be just me (rather than half of a pair) for the first time ever, on the other hand, felt like I'd lost an arm.

We were incredibly close until our lives went off at completely different tangents (we're now early 40s) - I had children about 10 years earlier than she did, she was massively successful career wise, lived at opposite ends of the country and we lost the ability to relate to one another. Combination of uber competitiveness (which we've always had) and just not understanding one another's trials and tribulations having such different lives. Still close, just probably like siblings now rather than a special twin bond.