Winter 2026: Seeing Double
Jan 14, 2026 12:20PM ● By Jen Gennaro
Did you ever wish you had a twin? I totally did. An identical twin, to be specific. Ohhhh the pranks I would have pulled. The thoughts I would have intuited. The built-in bestie and lowkey celebrity status that comes with the territory. I even checked my birth certificate once, just to make sure I wasn’t part of a dynamic duo separated at birth. No luck, but God knows I would have relished the drama of it all.
When we heard about this year’s record-breaking “twin-dergarten” class, we knew we had to do a cover story. We also knew it’d be quite the logistical feat to first get permission to publish forms signed by parents, arrange a time with the District and the school to get them all together in one place, and finally to have them all smile for the camera. Two outta three ain’t bad!
It was pure joy and pure chaos: 15 of the 16 sets of twins, wrangled into one place, photographed among wiggles, giggles, and the occasional meltdown. It was loud. It was joyful. It took 12 adults in the room, nearly one for every set. And it was also a not-so-quiet reminder of just how much steady, unseen work parents carry every single day–everything it took to get those kindergarteners up to this very day. Because behind every matching outfit and shared birthday are parents doing double duty: twice the diapers, twice the appointments, twice the worry, and twice the love.
Parenting, at its heart, is an act of endurance as much as joy. That truth carries us into our Faith section, where the stakes are higher and the moments heavier. These stories take us into hospital rooms and long nights of waiting—places no parent ever wants to be. And yet they are not stories of despair. Each one ends in healing and hope, bearing witness to a faith that carried families through their children’s darkest hours and brought them through to the other side.
This issue is offered in praise of parents: the ones juggling twins and carpools, the ones keeping vigil by a bedside, and the ones whose strength is tested in ways they never imagined. Whether the moment calls for laughter or prayer, parents show up—again and again.
When we heard about this year’s record-breaking “twin-dergarten” class, we knew we had to do a cover story. We also knew it’d be quite the logistical feat to first get permission to publish forms signed by parents, arrange a time with the District and the school to get them all together in one place, and finally to have them all smile for the camera. Two outta three ain’t bad!
It was pure joy and pure chaos: 15 of the 16 sets of twins, wrangled into one place, photographed among wiggles, giggles, and the occasional meltdown. It was loud. It was joyful. It took 12 adults in the room, nearly one for every set. And it was also a not-so-quiet reminder of just how much steady, unseen work parents carry every single day–everything it took to get those kindergarteners up to this very day. Because behind every matching outfit and shared birthday are parents doing double duty: twice the diapers, twice the appointments, twice the worry, and twice the love.
Parenting, at its heart, is an act of endurance as much as joy. That truth carries us into our Faith section, where the stakes are higher and the moments heavier. These stories take us into hospital rooms and long nights of waiting—places no parent ever wants to be. And yet they are not stories of despair. Each one ends in healing and hope, bearing witness to a faith that carried families through their children’s darkest hours and brought them through to the other side.
This issue is offered in praise of parents: the ones juggling twins and carpools, the ones keeping vigil by a bedside, and the ones whose strength is tested in ways they never imagined. Whether the moment calls for laughter or prayer, parents show up—again and again.
