News & Tips for Parents
Entries by Barbara Klein, Ph.D., Ed.D. (405)
New Understandings of Twin Relationships: From Harmony to Estrangement and Loneliness.
Review of our new book out in Deceomber 2020 by Barbara S. Klein, Stephen Hart, and Jacqueline Martinez.
"Dr. Barbara Klein is the great pioneer of twin psychology. Her work illuminates the complex emotionality and often profound development challenges inherent in the twin relationship – phenomena which traditional therapy and the non-twin world not only misunderstand, but lack even general awareness of.
'New Understandings of Twin Relationships' is the latest in a collection of remarkable works by Klein that twins, parents of twins, and friends and family of twins will find highly illuminating, practicable, and profoundly moving. Her work has helped countless individuals realize – often for the first time in their lives – that they are not alone in their struggle to make sense of what it means to be a twin as they endeavor to find a meaningful and healthy place in the world."
–– Joshua Pritchard, writer, musician, identical twin
Women TrailBreakers: An Inspirational and Guided Journal for Girls to Connect with Courageous Women so as to Find Their Own TrailBlazing Traits
by Sarah Moukhliss (Author), Marie Delon (Illustrator), Michelle Gruyé-Hallam (Cover Art)
Women TrailBreakers: An Inspirational and Guided Journal for Girls to Connect with Courageous Women so as to Find Their Own Trailblazing Traits is a unique journal for girls as it presents 30+ trailbreaking women to the reader. Young girls are invited to read about women trailbreakers and then reflect upon them within her journal. A trailbreaker is a person who blazes new trails for others to follow. They are innovative and brave. This journal introduces famous and not-so-famous women trailbreakers from a variety of fields including sports, music, the arts, science, education, and law. Girls will be excited to find full-color illustrations of beloved women such as Katherine Johnson, Jane Goodall, Amelia Earhardt, Malala Yousafzai, Maya Lin, Simone Biles, Greta Thunberg, and Michelle Obama; they will be pleasantly surprised to learn about lesser-known heroes too.
After a brief description of each trailbreaker, your young girl is invited to think about the trailbreaker's attributes and then to look within to make connections to her own experiences, traits, and dreams. This journal includes: question prompts, reflection pages, surveys, coloring pages, and drawing activities. Women Trailbreakers is perfect for birthdays and holidays. This journal is beneficial as it may:
- Teach your child about important women
- Encourage girls to write and reflect for personal enjoyment
- Increase your girl's self-confidence
- Inspire your child to take healthy risks
- Support inquiry building-skills
- Encourage girls to conduct more research on trailbreakers that are special to them
This journal provides an opportunity for a young girl to become an active learner rather than that of a passive reader. And because it is important for every young girl to feel that this is her book, there are blank forms in the back of the book for your young girl to research and add information about other women trailblazers who appeal to her. Additional resources are listed in the back of the book so that girls feel empowered long after the journal is complete.
Sarah Moukhliss is a mother, teacher, and librarian. She feels that it is important for girls to see their current and evolving selves when reading about great women trailbreakers. Moukhliss lives in Florida with her husband, two daughters, several finches, and a dog.
Marie Delon is a Mexican illustrator based in the city of Puebla, Mexico. Her work includes mostly digital techniques and mixed media. In the past, she has worked for independent publications, videogames and zines, children books and advertising, both national and international. Marie is a full-time graphic designer and implements her illustrations in her daily job.
Review of our new book about twin relationships, available in December 2020
"New Understandings of Twin Relationships: From Harmony to Estrangement and Loneliness."
Barbara S. Klein, Stephen Hart, and Jacqueline Martinez.
"There is something liberating about reading literature written by twins for twins. It’s authentic and relates to a subconscious space rarely recognized, for the main struggle that all twins face is that of being misunderstood by the non-twin.
Once again, Dr. Barbara Klein has managed to bring together a wealth of information together with her collaborators which gives us a better understanding on multiple levels as to the dynamics of twin personalities and twins’ struggle for identity and independence. The challenges of being born a twin are highlighted further in their need for better understanding, often plagued by loneliness and confusion.
This book, along with all of Barbara’s books, allows twins to decode their personalities, deconstruct their reactions and finally understand that there is a perfectly logical reason for the challenges they face. The more research done in this area, the more we as twins will be able to understand our makeup and transform these seemingly limiting factors into advantages."
~Mikela Fenech Pace, HR Consultant and Executive Coach. An author herself, she is the daughter of a fraternal twin father and an identical twin mother, is a fraternal twin, and is the mother of fraternal twins.
"New Understandings of Twin Relationships: From Harmony To Estrangement and Loneliness"
New Understandings of Twin Relationships by Barbara Klein, Stephen Hart and Jacqueline Martinez takes an experienced-based approach to exploring how twin attachment and estrangement are critical to understanding the push and pull of closely entwined personal relationships.
Based on the research expertise of each of the authors (all identical twins in their own right), and vignettes from twins across the globe, this book describes the inner workings of the twin-world, showing how the twin-world creates experiences that are often more intense and intricately textured than those in the singleton-world. Chapters debunk myths surrounding twinship and analyze the developmental stages of the twin relationship as well as the effect of being a twin on one’s mental health from different perspectives. The authors articulate how attachment, separation anxiety, loneliness, estrangement and the subjective experience of the twin and non-twin “other” impact behavior, thinking, and feeling.
Through its careful study of the many psychological challenges that twins face throughout their lifetimes, this text will help psychologists, scholars, clinicians, and twins themselves attain a deeper understanding of all interpersonal relationships.
This book will be out in December 2020 and is being published by Routledge.