Twins: Never Identical

Twins always know which one's older.

You'd think this most minor of age differences wouldn't matter to two people conceived at the same time, who developed in the same uterus and who entered the world within minutes of each other, but it does.

It must start with the parents. By noticing which one came out first, and making a big deal out of it (or, actually, any deal out of it), parents seek to impose a hierarchy where none would naturally exist. Twins pick up this signal and, for the rest of their lives, look to one as the older and the other as the younger.

Beth, a work colleague, once told me her identical twin sister was so bossy because she was the older one.

I asked Beth whether her sister ever shook her head knowingly at Beth and said, "I remember when I was your age."

Comments

[cs]

I hope Beth laughed. I sure did.

[Angie]

"I remember when I was your age two minutes ago" Hahaha thanks for the laughs!