Roper says that while she would read about the best way to get messages across to your children and resolve to do them, often the task of looking after two babies at once made following the "rules" harder. "Once, for example, Clio decided to grab on to and shake the floor lamp in our living room," she wrote. "So I firmly told her, 'No, no, Clio, don't touch'.... but that was a best-case scenario. Elsa was otherwise happily occupied with something, so I could devote my full attention to Clio for more than a few seconds. The more typical scenario would have been that while Clio was shaking the lamp, Elsa was standing at the baby gate in the kitchen doorway.... so instead of telling Clio to stop in a developmentally appropriate and self-esteem-promoting manner, I would be more likely to say, 'No, Clio, stop it,' so I could quickly go let Elsa into the kitchen. But then I'd hear the lamp being shaken ever more violently, pivot back to Clio, and scoop her up onto my hip, prompting her to start whining and screaming because, hey, she was having fun with that lamp. Then I'd go over and open the ... gate for Elsa and put Clio down, sprinting back after her when she made a beeline for the lamp again, just as Elsa started crying.... Should I go on?"
