Having twin boys, he paid attention (6)
I believe the answer is:
heeded
'paid attention' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'having twin boys' is the wordplay.
'twin boys' means two replacements for 'boy'.
'having' becomes 'he' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'boy' becomes 'Ed' (short for Edward).
'boy' becomes 'Ed' (short for Edward).
'he'+'ed'+'ed'='HEEDED'
'he' is the link.
This may not be right. It may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for heeded that I've seen before include "Respected" , "Listened, minded" , "Took notice of" , "Took note" , "Paid attention to, say warning" .)