The 3 Kids, 2 Hands Dilemma
For starters, I only have two hands so instead of choosing between which two little hands to hold when crossing the road, I often find myself resorting to holding two in one hand and one in the other. That gets tricky though when it is the nursery and school run and I have to carry backpacks, lunch bag, book bag and more as well as juggling the kids. If you are struggling to picture it, just think "walking circus" with me as the demented ringmaster or perhaps crazy clown is more accurate, ushering my three little darlings who want to walk or run at varying paces, sometimes balancing on curbs, picking up sticks, pretending to be zombies, hiding and so on. Put it this way I am looking forward to the week off from the school run during half term.Car Logistics
Now lets move on to car seats and trying to fit three of them across the back of the car. Your choice of "nice cars" is seriously limited, unless of course you live in the States where there seems to be a lot more choice in spacious family cars, the rental cars we have had while visiting over the past two years have been brilliant, I wish they were sold here. In the U.K. we don't have as many options so you may have to even consider looking at *shock horror* mini vans.If you do manage to squeeze three in a row in the back, the child in the middle will never be happy and someone will always be getting elbowed or screaming and shouting about their sibling's hand/foot/ear/hair/toe (the list goes on..) edging too close to them for comfort. The only time it is quiet back there is when they all fall asleep, or at least two out of three do.
Why has someone not invented little transparent capsules or bubble like pods you could just safely surround each child with to help confine them in their space and lessen the sibling car moaning and bickering?
Family Unit Quantified
You are also not considered a "family" when it comes to any type of tickets or bookings, be that cinema, hotel accommodation, amusement park rides etc unless you are 2 adults plus 2 children. The minute you add that extra child, everything starts to get a whole lot more complicated and you have to come up with clever ways to get around the restrictions that three kids pose.Your choices are limited, things like the special "Gruffalo" room at Chessington World of Adventure your child has seen on TV and is desperate to stay in, unfortunately only sleeps four, and you can forget trying to use the last minute or discount sites to try and book a family hotel room or package holiday as you will inevitably have to call to sort it all out. A Family these days is apparently a unit of four, not five or more and if you exceed that number then suddenly things don't compute.
Bugs Bedlam
Illnesses are also fun, I will never forget when all three kids got the dreaded norovirus. The horror of the endless emptying of sick bowls, dashing to get a bucket to the right child on time, and dealing with all three vomiting at once, not to mention all the changing of clothes, washing and cleaning. Exhausting is not the word...Threenagers
Forgetting all that about numbers of children, let's talk about the age 3. You have probably heard of "Threenagers" before and yes, it is true - they exist. My 3 year old twins are teaching me all about this magic age. Put it this way, I hope the Threenagers stage trumps the Teenager one. At 3, they can throw tantrums of epic proportions and for some reason love kicking off in public, often at the same time, it is not pleasant and hard to control and contain. .Three year old are not just bigger in stature, but super strong midst tantrum and have by now learned ninja kicking and hitting skills not to mention the shrieking blood curdling screams.
Three year olds no longer like strollers, they have two speeds, high speed running and what seems to be almost walking backwards, but is actually barely moving at a snails pace. I miss the days (pre 3 years) when I could scoop both twins up in my arms and carry them together, life was easier then.
So is 3 the Magic Number?
All jokes aside and despite the logistic nightmares and hurdles you are forced to jump as a parent with three kids in tow, it does mean that any day, any time you choose, you can declare it's party time, turn the music up and you will always have your own little crew ready to join in and dance with you but the best bit has to be the hugs, monster family hugs with three kids, well they are awesome.
These three are a little force to be reckoned with and have an amazing bond. They may bicker and fight at times like all siblings do, but they stick together and have each other's backs even at this young age. I saw this happen yesterday when some kids started teasing Ben and calling him names as we left the playground. The twins were having none of it and before I could say anything, Zoey, using all of her 3 year old mite marched up to the boys with Zachary by her side, declared they were idiots and to leave Ben alone. No one is going to mess with these three, there's definitely magic in their number.
The force is strong with these 3
