hen the big girls began daycare and “pre-school” I asked each of their teachers along the way what their thoughts were on this hot topic. The responses ranged from “I see no reason to split them as they work very well independently,” to “That’s totally up to you as the parent.” I did notice the girls depending on each other strongly in new situations. However, to their defense, and I am not a twin, I was shy and preferred someone to hold my hand in new situations
None-the-less, when it was time to start kindergarten, which is an all-day program here, we chose to keep them together. For their entire life they were with me the majority of the time and their stint with daycare and pre-school was very limited, so I was nervous sending them off — and so were they. They were gone so many hours at such a young age; kindergarten was like a full time job!
It didn’t take long before they were really enjoying school and because they could walk in together I was off the hook of walking them in like so many other parents. At the second parent-teacher conference of the year I asked their teacher her thoughts. Her response was along the lines of, “I don’t ever make recommendations, although I will say when Lylla isn’t here Harper stands a little taller and prouder.” That was enough for me. She confirmed our thoughts that Harper was a little too shy and dependent on her sister. So in first grade we requested that they have separate teachers. We thought it would be a dreadful conversation and so we decided to break a big rule and lie. We told them the classes had been established and they would not be in the same class. They took it rather well after we promised them they would still walk in together, leave together, and see each other at lunch and recess. To our surprise it was Lylla who had the butterflies when the first day of school arrived.