[Prof. Templeton]

At a recent convention of "Single parents of twins that don’t play well with others" , a group of single parents stood with their twins on a grid waiting for a lecture to begin. Arrange two children next to each parent (P on the grid) so that they are touching at either the edge or the corner. The children, since they do not play well with others, cannot touch each other, not even diagonally and not even siblings. The numbers to the sides represent the number of children in the respective row or column.

Or if you prefer this format

..3.2.3.1.3.1.3.1.2.3

2....................

2.P.............P....

3.......P.........P..

1....................

4...........P........

1...P.............P..

2...P................

3.........P..........

1...................P

3.....P..............

[Molly Mae]

I found 2 solutions.

I'll add a pic in a moment.

EDIT: Only one solution if a child cannot stand next to a parent who is not his own parent.

In the image, black squares are children and red squares are empty. 1 = black square for solution 1. 2 = black square for solution 2 (and the only solution if the children can't stand next to someone else's parent).

Omg, I broke it.

Don't mind my paint skills.

Edited December 2, 2011 by Molly Mae

[Prof. Templeton]

I found 2 solutions.

I'll add a pic in a moment.

EDIT: Only one solution if a child cannot stand next to a parent who is not his own parent.

In the image, black squares are children and red squares are empty. 1 = black square for solution 1. 2 = black square for solution 2 (and the only solution if the children can't stand next to someone else's parent).

Omg, I broke it.

Don't mind my paint skills.

Splendid!

As any single parent of twins that don't get along well with others will tell you; they prefer to stand next to as few of these children as possible, but certainly can't get away from their own. So I'd go with

No.2

Kudos for quickness. I have another variation I'll post later.

[Guest]

Those that enjoyed this challenge may like In October, 2009 this was one of my favorites when I was in High School.

Edited December 3, 2011 by thoughtfulfellow

[Guest]

3 2 3 1 3 1 3 1 2 3 2 C C 2 P C P C 3 C C P C P 1 C 4 C C C P C 1 P P C 2 P C C 3 C C P C 1 C P 3 C P C C