There are many myths and doubts about twins. This month we will try to deepen in the experience of raising and educating twins, understanding them better with the help of parents and specialists who will tell us how to allow them to develop their autonomy and self-esteem.
We will start interviewing Meritxell Palou, mother and child rights activist, who has two three-year-old twin daughters and began a campaign to ensure that her daughters were not separated at school that has become a social phenomenon.
How did you take the news that you expected twins?
It was a great scare, neither I nor my partner has a history of twins, I was afraid of not being able to arrive economically, but I decided to live day to day and do a great personal job during pregnancy, empowering myself, so when they were born, I took my Back a large backpack of positivism.
Were the first months as hard as it is told?
I took two years of leave at work, to dedicate myself alone and exclusively to my three girls, because I also have Txell, that when Ivet and Mireia were born, she was 4 years old. The hardest thing for me was to feel as if I abandoned my daughter Txell, because I had 2 babies who demanded me. At home I did the basics and essentials and I'm proud of myself, because I organized great. My phrase was; If I don't do it today, I'll do it tomorrow.
Have you felt that you attended to both?
I tried to make it that way and when I saw that I couldn't make it, I was going to the one who needed me most at that moment. Multiple children are born with patience and empathy, under the arm.
Are the girls very close?
The union is strength, it is a loving, healthy relationship, it is with you, without you and for you. They get angry, they defend themselves, they pamper themselves, if a cry immediately goes to ask what's wrong, they look up to see if their sister is there or not.
Is it true about the dominant twin?
In the case of Ivet and Mireia, when they ask me what they are like, I tell them it depends on the day. There are days of everything, but I don't promote those labels, because we can all be everything, if we propose. For example, when one of the two takes the floor away from the other, if he is talking to me, I tell him; A moment honey, I'm talking to your sister, when I'm done I'll be glad to hear from you. Adults tend to label everything, I suppose for fear of lack of control, but I think there are many tools for each twin to feel different and see that it is unique and wonderful and that you want it for how it is and that it does not need to be Feel more dear.
What has being the mother of twins brought you?
Being a mother of twins, it is like a course of personal growth multiplied by a thousand, it has given me the giving without waiting to receive, the unconditional love and the weightlessness that I lacked as a mother and a woman.
Have you achieved your goal of not being separated at school as you told us months ago?
Thank you for this question, I am excited to say: Yes, we have succeeded, they go to class together. It has been 6 very hard months, of refusals, meetings, people telling you that you were not going to achieve it, but at the same time I have found people who have supported me, they have encouraged me to continue for what I and my daughters felt. I was offered a nonprofit lawyer, so we started the administrative process, they were separated for two weeks, in those days, my daughters were not them, they were sad, they competed, or they were hugging all afternoon, they wanted to sleep together every night In the morning they asked themselves: Will you let me be in your class? They peeled on top, had nightmares and cried every morning. Curious isn't it? The school with the separation, wants to promote the independence and individuality of each and precisely in most cases they achieve the opposite, more dependence. I thank the school for giving us the opportunity to show them that my daughters can be together in the same classroom and the truth is that the teacher is proving an enriching experience on a professional and personal level.
Is that movement you have achieved reaching other families?
Since I started with the request for signatures on change.org and started receiving mails from parents desperate for the refusal of the school, since in many cases the teachers and directors of the centers, see that children have symptoms of being affected by This separation and turn a blind eye, relying on regulations that disadvantage families, I decided to give them a voice and open a community on Facebook "Multiple together at school, parents' decision", we are a family, we support each other and work as a team. And from here I thank you for trusting me, because I did not want this happiness to be only for my family, my daughters, it would be selfish on my part, so I support families from Spain, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia. Coks Feenstra and I are going out more and more in press media and thanks to the documentary "Water drops" we are also reaching more people, we have already 11 transformed schools, including one from Mexico. Hopefully the day will come when schools realize that each case of multiple is different and that the decision must be from the parents. The world is full of great people and I'm checking.
We thank activist Meritxell Palou this new interview that has granted us and made us better approach the emotional world of twins Seen by a conscious and struggling mother. Tomorrow we will talk to a mother of twins who educates at home and who is also an entrepreneur. Surely it will teach us a lot about the world of multiples.
