You may also be interested in:

As the parents of triplets we’ve always made a great effort to treat them equally communicating frequently. Not easy. Especially now that they’re in college it is difficult to communicate. There are some things you don’t want to text because you want to be able to give them emotional support in person.

My wife, their mother, was recently diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. We had planned to tell the triplets when they were home over Thanksgiving weekend, on that Friday after the feast. Now one of them cannot come because she has to work, and she lives on the other coast. What would you do? We wanted to tell all three the bad news at the same time but now that is not possible.

–Jason, Seattle, WA

Start communicating. Quickly shoot off an email addressed to all three. You want to send it immediately so that they have time to call you in advance of their arrival to ask questions.

It will give you a little one-on-one time to chat before two of them arrive.

Of course, the one who is not able to come home for the holiday will feel the worst because she’s not there, so follow up with subsequent updates.

Continue the updates addressed to all three.

Consider the time zones where the triplets live so that two of them don’t receive your update while the other is still asleep.

~Didi