Talk:Guidelines for Raising Children: Single Child, Twins, Triplets

By Vishal Agarwal

There are unique challenges involved in raising an only child who has no siblings. And if his parents were the only child of their parents as well, then he has no cousins either. Cousins are not regarded as distant family members, and they can be as close as biological siblings. This helps mitigate the loneliness that a single child might face.

It is better to have one excellent child than a hundred foolish children. A host of stars cannot dispel the darkness of the night but a single luminous moon accomplishes that. Hitopadeśa 1.17

Numerous examples of twins are discussed like the Aśvin deva-s or Nakula and Sahadeva. The former were divine physicians and do-gooders, looked alike and were extremely handsome. They were very close to each other and are typically described as traveling together. Nakula and Sahadeva were the children of Mādrī, the wife of King Pāṇḍu, and younger half-brothers of the other three Pāṇḍava-s. Although twins, they had different looks and abilities.

Another ancient pair of twins recounted in the Vedic literature are the brother and sister pair of Yama and Yamī. Their dialogue (Ṛgveda 10.10) contains the ancient injunction against incest and marriage between siblings.

Examples of triplets are not mentioned, but a set of four highly spiritual males who might be regarded as quadruplets are noted. They are the four “mind-born” sons – Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumāra, and Sanatsujāta – of Brahmā. They decided not to marry and instead initiated many spiritual traditions.

Raising twins, triplets, etc., can pose a different challenge for parents who were hoping to give birth to and raise only one child. But again, the close family ties in traditional societies spread and mitigate some of these challenges.