Questions strangers ask moms of twins, in ascending order of relative weirdness/intrusiveness

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  1. Do twins run in your family?
    This is not a weird question. It is a perfectly reasonable and inoffensive question to ask a twin mom you are meeting for the first time. It is also by far the most common question people ask.
    Long answer: They run in my husband’s family, but it turns out that a genetic predilection toward fraternal twins is only determined by the woman’s genes, since she is the one who releases two eggs at once. And fraternal twins don’t run in my family. So imagine our surprise!
    Short answer: No.
  2. OMG HOW DO YOU DO IT
    Unsure. Somehow I just do. But it’s hard to gauge what “doing it” means anymore. For example, right now I seem to be wearing pants, and my apartment is not on fire. Today is a success!
  3. How come they don’t look alike?
    That one has a different father. Kidding! They are fraternal twins. Not identical twins.
  4. How come that one baby is bigger than the other one?
    They are fraternal twins.
  5. How come that baby has blue eyes and the other baby doesn’t?
    FRATERNAL TWINS
  6. How come that baby has more hair than the other baby?
    Anthony ate all of Dominic’s hair.
  7. Did you have IVF/fertility treatments? Or are they “natural” twins?
    No IVF. But what if I did? Would they be “unnatural” twins?
  8. Did you have a vaginal delivery?
    …Why do you want to know?
  9. Are they both twins?
    No. Only that one is a twin. Actually, neither of them are twins — they are just unattended babies I found at the supermarket.

2 thoughts on “Questions strangers ask moms of twins, in ascending order of relative weirdness/intrusiveness”

  1. A friend of mine had her 12 to 15 month boy/girl twins dressed completely “gender appropriate,” down to dress and bow in hair for her, jeans and backward baseball cap for him. Still, they both did have thick mops of dark hair and the same round cherubic face, so does that explain the question from a stranger in the grocery store, “Are they identical?”

    Yes, I’m just trying to mess with the mind of one of them today.

    Reply ↓

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