One of every thirty babies born today is a twin-close to double the percentage of twins born just a quarter-century ago. Raising two children born on the same day presents special challenges to parents and offers unusual rewards. In Raising Twins poet Freya Bly offers a unique perspective on the experience based on weekly notes she kept from the time of her pregnancy until her sons Rowan and Bly were in college.
Raising Twins isn't a "how to" book however or a manual full of bullet points. It's a recount of twenty years of improvisation and adventure. Freya and her husband found that many theories about raising twins were cultural fairy tales inadequate to the task at hand. She describes the parenting ordeal with a poet's graphic touch-sleep deprivation the need for superhuman energy choosing schools managing sibling spats honestly and diplomatically while striving to bring out her sons latent gifts and nurture their creativity.
I was far from a "tiger mother." I was more like a dolphin mother swimming beside our sons letting two souls who happened to be born on the same day explore the depths and heights of their surroundings. Perhaps the extra energy level of twins puts a parent in the position of being an avid follower and facilitator it takes too much energy to steer them or control them...
If you're a twin if you know a twin or even if you just care about parenting and the passages from infancy to adulthood this book is for you.
Freya Manfred is the author of six collections of poetry and a memoir Frederick Manfred: A Daughter Remembers which was nominated for a Minnesota Book Award and an Iowa Historical Society Award. Her poetry has appeared in more than 100 reviews and magazines and more than 40 anthologies. Her sixth poetry collection Swimming with a Hundred Year Old Snapping Turtle won the 2009 Midwest Bookseller's Choice Award for Poetry. Her most recent collection Speak Mother appeared in 2015. Freya lives in Stillwater Minnesota with the screenwriter Thomas Pope and their sons Nicholas Bly Pope and Ethan Rowan Pope.
