Rotorua twins and triplets day out unites families

With the barbeque cranking and the sun shining, eight sets of twins were spread out on blankets, taking shade near the Volcanic Playground on the Rotorua Lakefront on Saturday.

While some tots decided to crawl after seagulls, others got their faces covered in lunch box treats or dusty fingers from a packet of chips.

The kids seemed to enjoy the 24C summer day, but the day was just as important for the parents, who came together as parents of multiples to support one another in the experience of having more than one child at once.

Hilary Beer organised the event as a way to connect the parents of multiples in town.

Beer said her twins her first children and it was quite a shock.

"When I found out I was pregnant with twins, I felt as though Rotorua didn't have a lot of support groups for families expecting twins or triplets."

"We didn't even factor in having twins because none of our family members had twins, but they have been a wonderful blessing."

Beer, whose sons Logan and Carter are now 10 months, said she initially struggled to connect with anyone else who had twins and found it isolating.

Carey Young's daughters, Bridget and Fiona, had just started school and she said the simple support of knowing other parents were in the same boat helped make everything feel normal.

"Especially when they're so little and it's so overwhelming ... you're fatigued, you're trying to feed, you're dealing with two different sleep patterns."

Rach Park is a mother to twin crawlers, Darcy and Onyx, as well as a 15-year-old and a 4-year-old.

She said events like this were good to share with people who knew what it was really like to have multiples which was a completely different experience to having a single child.

"It's not the same at all. Juggling all that being a full-time working mother.

There is a small club for families with multiples in Rotorua. It is a branch of Multiples Bay of Plenty, run out of Tauranga which is mainly a playgroup through Plunket.

"Having twins is so rewarding because when they do hit their milestones or learn new things, they always have their own little support group in each other and encourage each other. It just makes your heart full."

This was the first get-together Beer had organized and she hoped to have another big Easter bash on April 13.

"We're hoping to do an Easter egg hunt for the kids."