Overwhelmed? Don't fret it has a name....

By the end of the day I am exhausted, literally exhausted by the constant discipline required to raise all these babies. I often pray, "Dear Heavenly Father, please give me the strength to cope with my blessings." From sun up to sun down, I am correcting their behavior in one way or another. "Don't climb on the sofa," "Don't pull your sisters hair," "Don't tee tee in your pants," "Don't pick your nose," "Don't bite your nails," "Be quiet during prayers," "Eat, don't feed the dogs," "Be gentle with toys," etc.... all day long. When Jerry gets home from work, sometimes I just have to mentally check out... I hear the crying and misbehaving and I let him take over. I'm just too exhausted. All in all, I think the kids are well behaved and great, but it takes a LOT OF WORK and I try to balance all the "Don'ts" with "Good jobs". I was happy to learn there is a name for what I'm dealing with, Twin Escalation Syndrome (TES). Here is a clip from an article I read... enjoy. I'm sure all mothers can relate in one way or another.

"There's a condition that afflicts multiples. It's Twin Escalation Syndrome, the tendency of multiples to intensify and expand their behaviors in reaction to each other. For example, when Twin A cries, Twin B cries louder. In turn, Twin A cries even louder. And so on, and so on... Until the parents are crying the loudest of all.
Or, consider two school-aged twins. Their main passion in life is to amuse each other. At any normal mealtime, you'll find the following scenario: one twin slurps his milk to get his brother's attention. Not to be outdone, his brother blows bubbles into his cup. Twin One ups the ante by standing up in his chair to sing "Yankee Doodle Dandy" while gargling his milk. Then when Twin Two stands in his chair to attempt an even more outrageous stunt, he falls and knocks his milk over. Twin One laughs uproariously until he snorts milk out of his nose. Mom and Dad shake their heads (and fists!) in frustration, victims yet again of TES.
Let's face it. Twin Escalation Syndrome is incurable. If you have twins, you have TES. If you have triplets, quadruplets, or higher order multiples, you have it really three, four or more times as bad. You can't get rid of it, but you can control it. Here are some measures that parents can take to reduce flare-ups and preserve family safety and sanity." See the full article for suggestions.