And they’re back again!!!

“Come, let’s change,” Ji Hyo said, trying to get the attention of the kids. They twins are very playful recently, after fighting for so long. It seems as though the missed each other a lot.

Jiyoung ran around and Ji-ohn chased after him. Then suddenly, he stopped and turned around. Ji-ohn ran into his arms and they giggled. Then they kissed each other.

Ji Hyo laughed. It warmed her heart to see them being so close again.

“Yah, come here,” she called out again, walking into the children’s room.  

The children giggled.

“Wait, wait…” they called. “5 more minutes.”

And they repeated the chase, now with Jiyoung being the catcher and Ji-ohn running around.

“5 minutes is up,” Ji Hyo called out, popping her head out of the door.

“Ne~” they chorused and came in.

“Look at your sweat,” she sighed, wiping Jiyoung’s forehead, then Ji-ohn’s. She struggled out of her arms and giggled.

“Yahhhhh,” she cried, exasperated. “We’re going to be late, appa’s waiting for us.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere.”

“Whereeee!!!” Ji-ohn insisted, pressing Ji Hyo’s cheeks to make her answer.

She just laughed and pushed her away. “Why are you behaving like your dad?”

“Because I’m appa’s daughter,” she giggled.

Ji Hyo laughed, and turned to look at Jiyoung, who already took off his pyjamas.

“Whoa, Jiyoungie! You’re changing on your own?” she said, exaggerating her tone. “Aigoo… chakhae…”

He smiled to himself. Ji Hyo shifted so she sat beside him.

“Can you do it by yourself?” she asked.

“Ne!” he said, but his shirt was stuck at his head. He struggled for a while.

Just then, Ji Hyo’s phone rang.

“Oh, look, appa is calling!” she said, and put him on loud speaker.

“Ya, you said you’ll be ready in five,” Gary said.

“You ask your kids,” she laughed. “Wait, let me help Jiyoung with his shirt.”

“Appa~” Ji-ohn squealed.

“Eo, Ji-ohn ah…”

“Eodiya?”

“Cha… ppalli wa.”

“Eodiga?”

“I’ll tell you when you come down.”

“Ne…”

After the call ended, Ji Hyo helped Ji-ohn to change and brought them down. Gary and Ji Hyo decided to bring the twins to a development centre for a personality test.

Jiyoung started the test first.

The teacher brought him to a room with a box of cookies on the table, and shelves with a lot of toys.

“I need to go out to take something. Can you wait for me before you eat the cookies?”

“Ne…”

“Can I play with the toys?”

“Eo, you can play with them. But you can’t eat the cookies okay?”

“Ne…”

After the teacher went out, Jiyoung stared at the door for a while.

He then wandered around the room, half-heartedly looking at the toys.

About 10 minutes passed, and the teacher hasn’t returned. He was increasingly distracted by the cookies.

“Seonsaengnim~ Are you coming back soon?” he asked.

She didn’t reply. Jiyoung look conflicted. He moved towards the box of cookies. He reached out to unlock the box.

“Omo, is he going to eat it?” Ji Hyo asked.

“Ay, seolmal…” Gary said. “He listens well.”

He sniffed the box and reached out to pick one cookie up. Then he hesitated and put it back again. And picked it up again and it. Then he put it back and ran away.

Ji Hyo laughed. “Aigoo… he must be so tempted.”

Then, the teacher came back.

“Can I eat it now?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, trying to hold back her laughter, having seen his actions through the camera.

He gobbled down a few pieces then closed the box. Then opened it again to offer the teacher one.

“How about the rest?” she asked.

He held onto the box possessively and hid it behind his back.

“It’s for eomma, appa and Ji-ohn.”

The teacher chuckled. “Arrasso, I won’t take it, so you can put that on the table. Let’s play together, shall we?”

He selected a few toys and played with them with the teacher.

“But I want that orange truck,” the teacher said, pointing to a truck on the shelf. “Can you get it for me?”

He took it.

“Now, I want the blue robot.”

He took it correctly too.

“How about the colouring book?”

He nodded too, but it was too high for him.

“It’s too high,” he said.

“But I really want it,” the teacher said.

Jiyoung pouted, but continued to try for a while more. He jumped a little higher, but he still couldn’t reach it.

“Andwaeyo…” he whined.

“Ah… then it’s okay. Thank you, Jiyoung ah…” the teacher smiled.

They did some other memory games and reflex games.

Finally, Gary came in to hand him a two small boxes.

“Jiyoung ah, can you help me look after these? You can’t give them to anyone, okay? It is really important to me!”

“Ne…”

The teacher came in to take the boxes from him, but Jiyoung adamantly refused. Then, Ji Hyo came in to get it from him.

“But appa told me to look after them,” he said.

“So will you listen to appa or eomma?” Ji Hyo asked, pretending to be upset.

Jiyoung hesitated.

“Appa told me to help him get it,” Ji Hyo said again.

Jiyoung relented his time and gave it to her.

Then, the teacher came to bring him out.

Then, they brought Ji-ohn in.

For her, the box of cookies weren’t closed, so she could smell it. She waited for a while, and tried to distract herself by tossing and turning. And she would sometimes mumble to herself. But she gave in to temptation after a while. However, instead of eating the entire piece, she broke it into half and ate only that piece.

Like Jiyoung, she offered the teacher a piece and saved some for her family.

“Can I have another one?” the teacher asked.

“Ji-ohn readily agreed.

Then, they played with toys as well. Ji-ohn felt around and choose those almost everything, changing a toy every few minutes, and soon created a mess.

“But you give me the robot?” the teacher asked. Ji-ohn nodded, and listened to her instructions on how to go there.

"I want the colouring book now, please?"

“Can’t you take it yourself?” Ji-ohn asked, a little frustrated.

The teacher laughed. “Arrasso, arrasso…”

When Ji-ohn was asked to look after the boxes, like Jiyoung, she refused to let the teacher take it. When Ji Hyo came in for the box, she refused at first, until Ji Hyo told her that Gary asked her to take it.

“But appa told me to look after it and not give it to anyone…”  

“But he told me to take it from you,” Ji Hyo insisted.

Ji-ohn pondered for a while. “Lend me your phone, eomma. I’ll call appa.”

Ji Hyo held back her laughter and passed Ji-ohn her phone. Gary didn’t pick up on purpose.

“Appa’s not picking up,” Ji-ohn pouted.

“What should we do now?” Can you just give me the boxes?”

“Then I’ll just give you one!” she finally said.

Ji Hyo laughed and took one. 

Finally, they ended the session with some memory games.

Then, it was time for the interpretation.

“As both of you may know, Jiyoung is quiet obedient. He’ll do things as long as you ask him…” the pyschologist/ teacher explained.

“Is that bad?” Gary asked. Ji Hyo hit his arm lightly.

“Don’t interrupt her!”

“It’s not really a bad habit- it’s his character. But if he doesn’t learn to say no, he might be doing things he doesn’t like. You see? Even when he was busy with his own toys, he agreed to help me take whatever I requested, even though I was being disruptive. He should learn to say no sometimes- make him express his feelings more. He’s very reserved about his feelings, you can see from the way he handled the cookies. He wanted to eat, but he kept hesitating. Even when he offered me the biscuit, he hesitated a while too. So, I would suggest you to constantly ask about his feelings. Encourage him to do the things he like.

“Also, maybe because he’s the older sibling, he’s always looking after the younger one. It makes him more independent- you can tell from the way he played with the toys. Even when he needed help- like when he couldn’t reach the toy, he doesn’t call for help. You should encourage him to ask for help when he needs it. But still, he enjoys interaction. The toys that he selected require dual players. It’s good that he has a sibling to play with, but if he has more playmates, it will be of better help for his development.”

“Actually, we have a few friends that we’re close with,” Gary said. “So, we should let them interact more?”

“Yes, that’s nice. But you can let him interact with kids in your neighbourhood too. It doesn’t have to be a lot- it’s no good if you suddenly expose him to many kids actually. He will get shy in that case and it wouldn’t be good.”

“Both the children get jealous quite easily. In fact, most children do. But compared with Ji-ohn, Jiyoung doesn’t express his jealousy that much in terms of verbal expression. He tends to show it in his actions. For example, when I was playing with him, and I purposely played with other toys, he would stop playing and start moving around to grab my attention, but he doesn’t really speak up. When I stop playing with Ji-ohn, immediately she voices out. Ji-ohn is more likely to cry over more minor things as compared to Jiyoung…”

“Whoa… daebak… you can tell that just from a game?” Ji Hyo asked, wide-eyed with admiration.

The teacher smiled shyly. “When Ji-ohn cries, it’s better not to fuss over her. She enjoys the attention, so if you fuss over her, she’ll get the impression that ‘ah… so if I cry eomma will hug me…’ and it will make her cry more easily. Instead, distract her, wait for her to calm down, and explain to her why it happened. For example, if she falls down, you can distract her by letting her do other things, and then explain to her that if she runs fast, she’ll fall… but you shouldn’t ignore her. In fact you shouldn’t ignore children. It doesn’t make a good impact on them. For Jiyoung, do the opposite, if he cries, take the chance to hug him, and let him explain himself. But also, don’t fuss too much. Just let him know that you care.

“For Ji-ohn, she’s competitive. You can see, when she plays, she will get slightly upset if she loses. But Jiyoung just laughs it off.”

“Totally like you,” Gary laughed, and jabbed Ji Hyo at the sides. She frowned and pushed him away.

“Am I right? Ji-ohn is as short-tempered as her mother!” Gary laughed again.

“Ji-ohn is indeed more short-tempered than Jiyoung. When I repeatedly asked her to help me, she got frustrated. But Jiyoung continued to help. Jiyoung values harmony, so he doesn’t want to do things that upset others. That’s also why he let Ji Hyo take the boxes after some persuasion. But for Ji-ohn, she stood firm and refused to let you take, and even suggested to call her father for confirmation. You can tell that she’s a problem solver and thinks on her feet.”

“Like me,” Ji Hyo laughed, now her turn to poke fun at Gary. “You see, your son becomes so much like you,” she said, sticking out her tongue. Gary rolled his eyes.

“And even when Gary didn’t pick up, she decided to let you take one of the box- this means that her notion of fairness is quite strong. It was a smart move- since both of you will have one, none will be upset.”

“And Jiyoung is very possessive. It’s not wrong and it’s not selfish either, you should understand that. He is still willing to share his things- you see he didn’t finish the cookies and kept some for you, but he gets angry when he feels that it’s threatened he will grow protective and might turn aggressive. It’s okay to be possessive, but you need to explain to him that aggression cannot solve things. It is a problem for him, because he can’t express himself clearly with words. He wouldn’t say ‘That’s mine, you can’t take it or else I will be upset’, but he will show it with his action- which is aggression. So, you need to guide him in that.

“For Ji-ohn, she is very open-minded. She readily agreed to give me an additional piece of cookie. It doesn’t mean that’s better that Jiyoung. In fact, she’s so flexible such that she doesn’t have a clear stand- she becomes indecisive. You see, in their selection of toys, Jiyoung chose a few and stuck with it. He knows what he likes and he sticks with it. But it also means that he doesn’t like to try new things. That’s okay- you don’t have to force him to try, but if you can demonstrate it and if he seems interested, you should encourage him. He thrives on encouragement. Ji-ohn tried everything. If she doesn’t know how to use it, she asks. It’s evident that she always gets help readily at home. Most kids who get help readily aren’t good problem solver, but she is. So you did a good job in training that. If it isn’t urgent, encourage her to think of the solution herself.”

“Ji-ohn appears dependent, but she learns well. She has a good memory- maybe because she can’t see, she relies on her other senses, as well as her memory more. So she can learn very quickly, and she can be independent if you let her. Jiyoung, on the other hand, appears independent, but it’s just because he rarely asks for help.”

“Overall, they’re developing well. One thing to note is that as twins, parents often compare them to each other, and it really makes them uncomfortable. I haven’t noticed that sense of rivalry between the twins, so I am assuming that you guys don’t really compare them. Once they are born, they are destined to be best friends. There’s no other that understands them better, they grew up together, played together, fought together for as long as they lived. But they can also rivals, precisely because they are together all the time, and it is easy to draw a comparison. It depends on your attitude towards them. Also, don’t always make them do the same things or wear the same clothes. Let them have a chance to develop an identity independent of the other twin. It’s something that most twins desire… since parents think it’s cute to dress them the same and let them do things together. But that should only continue up to a certain age, otherwise one twin will overshadow the other. I hope this session gave you new insights on your children and I wish you all the best in your future parenting endeavour.”

With that, the psychologist stood up and bowed to the couple, who bowed back in return. They had indeed learnt a lot. 

and no, i am not a pyschologist and all my explanations are my own imagination.