The same, but different

Balaclava School's seven sets of twins get together for Multiple Birth Awareness Week. From top left are Jack and Finn Duncan (9), Hunter and Tom MacDade (7), Nadia and Perry Koni (6), Thomas and James Sutherland (7), Teilah and Taneia Wetere (6), Eden an
Balaclava School's seven sets of twins get together for Multiple Birth Awareness Week. From top left are Jack and Finn Duncan (9), Hunter and Tom MacDade (7), Nadia and Perry Koni (6), Thomas and James Sutherland (7), Teilah and Taneia Wetere (6), Eden and Silas Webb (5) and Harmony and Shant'e Baker-Wihongi (6). Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
Being multiple birth aware can mean different things to different people.

To a teacher at Balaclava School it can mean keeping a weather eye on one pair of identical twins who swap clothes during the day to confuse you.

To the Otago Multiple Birth Club it means explaining just what the experience of having twins or triplets is like.

Balaclava School teacher Sarah Pledger thought Multiple Birth Awareness Week, which finished last week, would be a good time to show off the seven pairs of twins - three of whom are identical - who attend the school.

An eighth pair starts next year.

Ms Pledger said teaching twins meant being ''actually quite mindful'' of their families.

Staff talked to parents about issues including whether twins should be in the same class, or separate classes.

Separate classes could foster interaction with other children, or stop reliance on one another.

In some cases, twins did not work well together, or had different friends.

The Multiple Birth Awareness week theme for 2014 was ''competing and co-operating'', and Ms Pledger said some twins could be ''healthily competitive with each other''.

Then there was the issue of how to tell identical twins apart. One pair at Balaclava School used to swap clothes, but ''different personalities'' gave a good clue to who was who.

david.loughrey@odt.co.nz

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