Where Cheeseburgers Come From
Recently, while on vacation, the kids and I spied a
little shop called Sin Sations.
Fresh baked donuts immediately sprang to mind and I
drove over, but for the life of me I could not
reconcile what I saw with the vision of glazed goodies
dancing in my wee brain. Sin Sations is an adult
shop and has nothing to do with bear claws and
éclairs.
I’m not as worldly as I thought. Not by a long shot.
Then, the kids started asking questions.
“Ma, what’s that shop?”
“It’s not appropriate.”
“It says ‘toys’.”
“Yes, but not for kids.”
“What is sex?”
“Who wants a Happy Meal?” At least I know I can count
on what I anticipate when I see golden arches.
Which reminds me…recently, the kids and I were gift
buying and my son and I stepped into a shop with
flashy lights, lava lamps and t-shirts with attitude
in the window. We couldn’t see the other items they
offered until we stepped inside.
My son quickly announced that the store was not
appropriate for us. A father of three little ones had
reached the same conclusion and was quickly leading
his children back out the door.
Once outside my son asked, “Did you see that one
t-shirt?”
Was that all he saw? Thank you, God, for that!
“Isn’t there a McDonald’s around here?” I asked,
falling back on my tried and true change of topic.
It’s getting so that I look for the golden arches as
my savior for these types of situations. And it must
be rubbing off on the kids.
Flipping through the television stations the other
night a very inappropriate ad for wild young people
appeared and was quickly changed. And, like Pavlov’s
dog, all the kids piped up: “Can we get a McFlurry?”
You know what this means, don’t you?
It means I’m going to be spending a whole lot of money
at McDonald’s as the kids mature. For some there are
the birds and bees. For me, it’s double
cheeseburgers and milkshakes.
Once upon a time Dad and Mom met at McDonald’s and we
ordered two double quarter-pounders with cheese.and,
because we loved each other very much, they gave us
five little cheeseburgers to boot!
I’m sure that lesson will be clear as ketchup.
Seriously, though, the kids already know where
cheeseburgers come from. They also know all about
condiments, too, thanks to Health Ed.
I just want them to wait until they find a good
corn-fed patty on a wholesome whole-grain bun before
they start thinking about making cheeseburgers. And
I think they will. Thanks to my analogies, the older
ones will never look at a cheeseburger the same again.
Book: It’s Twins! Parent-to-Parent Advice from Infancy Through Adolescence
I’m pleased to announce the publication of my new book for families with twins and multiples! Here’s what you can expect from It’s Twins! Parent-to-Parent Advice from Infancy Through Adolescence:
It’s a wonderful gift to be the parent of twins, but it’s a gift that can often leave you breathless. Who, but the parents of twins, can truly understand the joys, challenges, and unexpected moments multiples bring? Susan Heim knows, and as a mother of toddler twins and two singleton teenagers, she has plenty of twins tips, twins tales, twins trivia, and more to share. Plus, she offers the unique voices of other twins parents who tackle the important questions on raising twins of any age.
Reading like a coffeehouse gab session with dozens of other moms and dads, It’s Twins! is conveniently divided into bite-size topics covering four main stages:
Twin Babies—you now have not one but two (or more!) infants at home, but the calm, reassuring experience of parents who have been there is right at your fingertips.
Twin Toddlers—potty-training, emerging personalities, preschool, shopping for (and with) two picky eaters, and many other developmental changes are coming fast. Relax, help is here!
Twin Kids—your twins are in school now, making friends, going places; their world is expanding. Discover this new world with the help of those who know the way.
Twin Tweens and Teens—those special years of forming lasting friendships, dating, rivalry, and independence. You’ll have help seeing all this from your twins’ point of view.
With lots of common sense, humor, and encouragement from other parents, It’s Twins! will help ease your anxieties, and put the fun and love back into the ever-challenging role of raising twins.
It’s Twins! Parent-to-Parent Advice from Infancy Through Adolescence can be ordered from Amazon or directly from the publisher, Hampton Roads .
What’s In a Name?
When I began working at the local child care centre, the acting Director asked me what I would prefer to be called. I looked at her rather bemused. Then it finally registered that the staff were addressed by their first names. It seemed rather foreign to me that my daughter’s friends would call me by my first name.
Parental Superpowers
The horror of horrors for all parents is when their children act like twerps in public.
Statistics About Twins and Multiples
About 126,500 babies are born in the U.S. each year as part of twins or more, to approximately 63,000 families.
Fifty-three percent of all twins are born prematurely (before 36 weeks).
Seventeen percent of women pregnant with multiples develop pre-eclampsia.
Sixty-four percent of multiples are born at low birth weights.
In-vitro fertilization leads to multiples in approximately 30 percent of cases.
According to Hellin’s Rule, formulated in 1895, spontaneous (naturally conceived) twins occur once in every 89 births.
In 2001, 3.1 percent of all U.S. births were twins. The rate was roughly half in Europe. In the United States, one in 50 people is a dizygotic (fraternal) twin. One in 150 is a monozygotic (identical) twin.
If a woman has already given birth to dizygotic twins, she has a 4 times higher chance of conceiving another set of twins—one in 3,000 births.
A woman who is a dizygotic twin has a 1-in-17 chance of having a set of twins.
The fertility drug Clomid increases the chance of having twins to 1-in-10.
Approximately 70 percent of all twins result from fertility treatments.
African-Americans are more likely to conceive twins than Caucasians. Asians are less likely to conceive twins.
Women between the ages of 35 and 39 are more likely to conceive twins.
The more children a woman has, the more likely she is to have a set of twins.
Taller women conceive twins more often than shorter women.
Armadillos almost always give birth to monozygotic quadruplets. One type of armadillo often produces monozygotic octuplets.
Conjoined (Siamese) twins result from the egg splitting near the end of the second week following fertilization.
Identical twinning is 9 times more likely to happen if a woman becomes pregnant while breastfeeding another newborn.
Some scientists believe that women who consume more milk have a greater chance of having multiples because she is ingesting more insulin-like growth factor (IGF), which is commonly fed to cows to increase their milk and beef production.
About 25 percent of identical twins are mirror-image twins.
About 95 percent of all multiple births in the United States are twins.
Thirty-four out of every 1,000 births in the United States are multiples.
Between 1980 and 1998, the rate of triplets and higher-order births in the United States increased by 400 percent.
A woman has a 1 in 65 million chance of conceiving identical quadruplets.
The time for an egg to split into identical twins is very short. If the egg doesn’t split into two separate but identical eggs within the first 14 days after conception, it never will.
The record for the number of fetuses in the human womb at once is 15.
For every 400 sets of fraternal twins, one set will be made up of twins who have different fathers.
About 50 percent of twins are delivered by Caesarean section.
Women who eat meat or dairy products are 5 times more likely to have twins than women who are vegans.
Identical twins are more likely to be female than male, especially if they are conjoined.
Monozygotic twins are more likely to miscarry than dizygotic twins.
Since 1980, the number of triplets has increased tenfold.
Twins at birth are hospitalized twice as long as singletons, and medical costs are three times higher during the first five years of life compared with singletons.
Triplets are at higher risk for cognitive delays during the first two years of life.
Medical costs for a triplet pregnancy are estimated at $200,000.
Getting “Picky” Twins To Eat
My twins are as different as night and day, and this certainly extends to their eating habits. Austen will eat almost anything; Caleb will eat almost nothing! Austen prefers salads, green beans, healthy foods, while Caleb eats anything with the word “chocolate” in it. I can’t complain because Caleb is a lot like me: I’m also not a big greens eater, and I love junk food! I take pleasure in informing my vegetable-loving husband that our twins’ differing preferences PROVE that tastes in food are genetic. After all, both twins are being raised in exactly the same way and offered the same foods, and yet they prefer different things. (Alas, my husband still thinks I’m just stubborn.) So how do you please twins with differing palates, especially if one or both of them are categorized as “picky”? Here are some suggestions:
Sprinkles: They go great on everything! I let my boys put sprinkles on their applesauce, yogurt, pancakes, mac and cheese, veggies . . . whatever they want! Somehow everything looks a little more appealing to them with sprinkles on top.
Dipping sauces: I put little piles of ketchup, mustard and barbecue sauce on their plates and pronounce them “dipping sauces”! They have fun dipping their food in the various condiments and are more apt to eat them, as well. Cut up raw vegetables and serve them with a small bowl of ranch dressing for dipping.
Smoothies: Kids love to drink smoothies (call them “milkshakes” if you must), and it’s a great way to get a good serving of fruit. Mix various fruits, like bananas, strawberries and other berries in the blender with some milk and ice, and they’ll drink them up!
Individual portions: For some reason, children like having their own individual servings. Witness the popularity of pudding cups! (Or maybe the chocolate has something to do with that…) So make mini-pizzas out of bagels or bread slices. Serve carrot sticks in cupcake liners. Cook your lasagna in little, serving-sized pans.
Let them help: When they help you make their food, children develop more of an interest in it. I put crackers and squares of cheese and lunch meat on my twins’ plates and let them “build” their own “sandwiches.” Let them sprinkle cheese on their pizza or make faces out of pepperoni.
Be patient: Just because they don’t eat something the first time doesn’t mean they won’t try it on the second or third attempt. Experts say it sometimes takes up to ten attempts before they’ll try a new food! Pick another day to serve them a food they didn’t eat the first time. You might be surprised to find that they just weren’t in a “new food mood” on the first (or second or third!) day.
Call it “cake”: Labeling is very important. When we serve our twins banana bread, we called it “banana cake.” Somehow the thought of “dessert” makes them more eager to try it! Call a hamburger patty a “hamburger cookie.” Call it whatever you need to in order to make it sound appealing!
Don’t force anything: Trying to force your toddler to eat something will only frustrate both of you. He’ll just spit it out or throw it on the floor! Leave it in front of him for a while, and if he still refuses to taste it, take it away. But don’t bring him a cookie because you’re concerned that he’ll starve! You don’t want to teach him that he can have whatever he wants. He’s not going to starve if he misses one meal, and he’ll be that much more hungry at the next one.
Bribery rarely works: We’ve tried the old line, “Just eat two bites, and you can have a cookie!” It never works. It just upsets the toddler even more because he knows there’s a cookie waiting in the wings, and he doesn’t have it!
Be the example: Let your toddlers see you enjoying healthy foods. (This is a tough one for me!) Show them how much you enjoy eating a carrot by saying “yum yum” as you eat it in front of them.
Check with the doctor: If you’re still concerned about your twins’ poor eating habits, consult with their pediatrician. He or she may suggest that you supplement with a multi-vitamin. (Hint: My twins love the gummy bears!) If your children are growing appropriately for their age, don’t be overly concerned if salads aren’t their favorite food.
Copyright ©2007 by Susan M. Heim. Adapted from It’s Twins: Parent-to-Parent Advice from Infancy Through Adolescence (Hampton Roads, February 2007).
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