One of the early questions that we had about raising twins was if we should tell them (and other people) which of them is older. We’ve found that people definitely have expectations and preconceptions of how different children act when they are the oldest, the youngest, etc.. What we didn’t know is if this extends to twins.

Agnes asked one of her co-workers, Sarah (who is a twin), about her experience on this topic. Sarah said that her parents didn’t tell them who was the older one, dodging the question for years. She said that she liked the idea that they were exactly the same age, and when they finally did find out, it was very exciting. They have a picture of the two of them seeing their birth certificates for the first time.

I think we like the idea of not saying who is the older twin, and it would be nice if we could do it. From a practical standpoint, we can see all sorts of ways they might find out though. We’re going to have to give this one more thought.