Help, I have identical twin girls in my gan -

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Twins, Triplets, and more

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amother

Fri, Aug 30 2013, 4:11 pm

And I can't tell them apart! I feel really guilty about this.

The girls are 12 months old, they do not respond to their individual names (if you call out "Sara" both girls look up and come over). On their first day, Monday, their mother dressed them in identical clothing. It was horrible.

I spoke with her and she promised not to do that again...but they are still in very similar outfits, but their hairbows are different. Tuesday and Thursday she dropped them off and said "Rivka's bow is the pink" "Sara's wearing purple". But Wednesday their father dropped them off without saying something, and my assistant forgot to ask which girl was wearing what, and we couldn't tell them apart.

The best part is that today their grandfather dropped them off, and he said "Rivka's got the pink bow" and "Sara's got a yellow bow", but my assistant and I think he mixed up the children or that the bows fell out and the girls put them back in because yesterday Sara had diaper rash and based on the grandfather's information, today Sara is fine and Rivka has a very red bottom.

So, I'm looking for ideas to help easily identify who is who. When I asked their mother about putting nailpolish on one girl's toe, or painting each girl's big toe a different color she was adamant that she can tell the girls apart and she doesn't understand why we cannot, that she is against nail polish and that the bows should be sufficient.

If the girls responded to their own names, or if they had different hair cuts, or if their mother would stop putting them in clothes that are similar - I wouldn't be so stressed. Am I being unreasonable? Is the mother?

Mimisinger

Fri, Aug 30 2013, 4:17 pm

As soon as the mother drops them off and tells you who is who, (wait until she leaves) and put a tiny sticker on her back - pink for one, purple for the other, or whatever, or get letter stickers, s for one, b for the other. Hopefully you'll soon learn to tell them apart.

IMHopinion

Fri, Aug 30 2013, 4:18 pm

2 self stick name tags should do the trick. Have them ready in the morning when mom drops them off, and put them onto each kid when mom identifies them to you then.

Btw, I think this is adorable!

rising hero

Fri, Aug 30 2013, 4:22 pm

Name tags or stickers can fall off at some point. You can make or buy, (or ask mom) for cheap, bracelets. That way its easy to tell them apart.

SplitPea

Fri, Aug 30 2013, 4:32 pm

I ahve taught twins (and triplets) many times. To the momn their differences are very obvious and she probably cannot understand how you don't see that they are different. give it a few weeks and you will start to tell them apart right away.,

for now. Get name tags and stick it to the girls back (I do this with all my kids the first few weeks because two-3 year olds don't always come when called and its a good way to learn names.

you can have a special shirt that you put on one of them for the first few weeks as soon as they arrive at gan. (put it on and take it off after the mom leaves over their normal clothing) -

.you can also tie a piece of yarn of different colors on their wrists. (make it a game to help kids know where they sit! Blue table, red table, green table etc. that way its not just the twins with yarn but the whole class! do it until they know where they sit and will naturally go there. Some kids might come back with the yarn still on them the next day. some night need a new piece. but this way its not just the twins that have it but your whole class.

good luck. very soon their personalities and differences will be clear as day to you@

TwinsMommy

Fri, Aug 30 2013, 4:46 pm

I like the shirt idea and kind of the yarn idea. Name tags, stickers and bows come off too easily. But you certainly need to be able to indicate who had poops, who ate what, who had a diaper rash, so you need to do what you need to do to tell them apart--- if parents won't help, then no reason you can't do a special shirt on one after they leave.... the yarn idea is good too but at 12 months I'd be worried it would fall off the wrist and then it's a choking hazard.

identical twins are fun though. mine are a boy and girl and people ask me all the time if they're identical---- um, SURE.......

momx6

Fri, Aug 30 2013, 5:13 pm

My twins were very identical when they were that age so I pierced their ears with different color earrings. This way EVERY ONE knew who was who.

amother

Fri, Aug 30 2013, 6:52 pm

Tattoos.

FranticFrummie

Fri, Aug 30 2013, 7:57 pm

TwinsMommy wrote:

mine are a boy and girl and people ask me all the time if they're identical---- um, SURE.......

Thanks, I needed a good laugh! LOL

rainbow dash

Sat, Aug 31 2013, 3:56 pm

I have twin girls. This yr they are seperateing them this yr but I always have one twin with a bracelet.

mummy-bh

Sat, Aug 31 2013, 4:05 pm

My girls were 3 1/2 when they first went out. I never let them wear the same clothes, which was hard as they wanted to dress 'twinny'. Also, I bought them cheap bead necklaces that spelt out their names, which they wore for a month or two. The teacher told me she appreciated that.

People who know my girls can tell them apart, but they really are identical.

Now they are in school uniform so they dress 'twinny' every day - along with ~500 other girls!

When they were really tiny I painted the big toe nails of the older twin, for ease of identification.

mummy-bh

Sat, Aug 31 2013, 4:29 pm

I don't see how having one twin wear a bracelet, earrings or whatever, would help. The teacher would have to remember who it is that wears the accessory. The only way to do this is to personalise the accessories; eg I know twins who wore different coloured hair clips or bobbles corresponding to their initial. Bayla always wore blue and Gitty always wore green.

sped

Sat, Aug 31 2013, 9:29 pm

I had this in my gan a few years ago.Their mother made their hair differently - one had two ponies and one had just one - every day.

momx6

Sat, Aug 31 2013, 10:47 pm

mummy-bh wrote:

When my twins were that young everyone knew which twin had which earring bec they sort of went with their names. Now that they are older (first grade!) and they wear uniforms AND they're in the SAME CLASS, I bought bows with their initials on it. The Morahs all say it was a big help identifying who is who!

chananecha

Sat, Aug 31 2013, 11:02 pm

tell mom to get them different shoes, it always works for me

Mama Bear

Sat, Aug 31 2013, 11:38 pm

12 month olds who dont respond to their name yet - big deal, just call them zeeskeit or shaifeleh....

5S5Sr7z3

Sat, Aug 31 2013, 11:41 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

12 month olds who dont respond to their name yet - big deal, just call them zeeskeit or shaifeleh....

That's a cute idea, but when the mother picks them up, you want to be able to tell her that 'Rivka' ate all of her lunch, but 'Ruchy' was cranky today.

I second the label idea - stick it on their backs so they can't pull it off

ValleyMom

Sun, Sep 01 2013, 1:14 am

create little soft cotton "bracelets" to wear on their ankles. Maybe cut off the top of a baby sock and put the band around their ankle. One blue band one red band. This way you can just hand the baby over and say this little sweetie (red bracelet) didn't finish her last bottle. This little one (blue band) just had her diaper changed 20 minutes ago. The tope of the scok will be soft stretchable cotton-leaves no marks! AND you will only need to do this until they are old enough to speak or ackonwledge their own name.

amother

Mon, Sep 02 2013, 3:46 pm

on Facebook a group called

Jewish moms of multiples, masters of multi-tasking.

most moms of identical twins paint their childrens nails diff colors .

amother

Mon, Sep 02 2013, 4:59 pm

check out safety tat on Facebook
you write in the childs name

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