Different twins: the male-female couple
Male and female dizygotic twins are sometimes considered “false twins”, almost more brothers than twins, given the physical differences that are easily perceptible in the eyes of third parties.
In addition to the different physicality, there are attitudinal and behavioral differences dictated precisely by genetic factors linked to sex.
The differences can be seen from the first year of life: normally boys grow physically more robust, are more active, have an explorer nature as they easily get tired of the same games and the same places and always need new stimuli; girls , on the other hand, are usually more reflective, they are passionate about objects and study their details , even remaining for a long time playing with the same puppets, they are able to recognize faces better and love being held in their arms facing inwards to look at the expressions of the face and touch the features with the little hands.
Boys are usually more impulsive , with much stronger reactions, from laughter to sudden crying, but they are much more tied to their mother from whom they find it hard to separate. Girls , on the other hand, are normally more controlled, more autonomous , they tend to seek contact with people, they prove to be more collaborative and less competitive .
The boy is physically stronger, the girl is more emotionally controlled.
This results in phases of progress that are staggered over time: boys are usually faster in starting to crawl and walk, while girls are faster in the first hints of babbling.
Our Giulia and Davide are confirming the trend, with Davide much more impetuous, but also more mum-dependent and Giulia more calm, who loves to sit and nibble on teddy bears and known objects and who would even spend hours watching her father make faces and try to to repeat its movements.
The different reactions and different preferences inevitably lead to managing children in a slightly different way. On the one hand this means having to ingenuity to find times and ways to encourage the development of different aptitudes (stimulating the girl in her first words, supporting the boy in his first little steps), on the other it means having before your eyes the miracle of seeing such different answers to similar circumstances.
In my experience, as parents you quickly learn to take advantage of the situation, knowing that the children somehow adapt and expect them, that they don’t suffer in sharing spaces, games and affections, and that they actually exploit them differently to learn every day something new, following one’s instinct and one’s nature as a little man and a little woman, involuntarily becoming perfectly complementary parts of a splendid couple.
Kathryn Barlow is an OB/GYN doctor, which is the medical specialty that deals with the care of women's reproductive health, including pregnancy and childbirth.
Obstetricians provide care to women during pregnancy, labor, and delivery, while gynecologists focus on the health of the female reproductive system, including the ovaries, uterus, vagina, and breasts. OB/GYN doctors are trained to provide medical and surgical care for a wide range of conditions related to women's reproductive health.