How to tell twins apart

How do you tell twins apart? Help me!

I have cousins who are twins. Two sets of cousins who are twins. I doubt that my aunt could tell her sons apart; they were that alike. The other twins I could tell who was who but could never remember which name went with which one, because that was the era when twins were dressed alike and had twin names.

Now I've got nephews who are twins and they are easy to tell apart. They don't look alike and their names aren't twin names. Thank you, thank you to my brother and sister-in-law for making things easy.

But here's the problem and I need your help. Lily is great friends with a set of twins who are absolutely identical. One had a spot on her nose that helped for a while, but the darn thing went away. When they come over, I try to associate the colors they are wearing with their names. Then they put on their bathing suits and the jig is up. I think I've quit calling them by name, which isn't fair or nice.

But! What do I do? My daughter says one's face is rounder than the other. I can't tell.

Any strategies for telling twins apart so I can treat these nice girls right? (I'm so embarrassed I've asked them so many times....)

Comments

[GP]

Greetings ... found you on horsebloggers since I'm listed there too.. a new found passion i can tell you !:) But on the twin thing, i can speak as an expert, I am an identical twin so we've been through the whole gamut.

actually, if you really watch them and look at them, you will notice subtle differences and it becomes easier. What folks did with us (and even our family since our voices are exactly the same on the phone!) is when you're encountering one of the twins, ask a question about the other one and invariably they'll give the other one's name when answering :)

Or ... do they have different interests/hobbies? Then you could ask a question about it and the one that'll have the answer will pipe in and then you can match name...

happy horsin'
gp in montana

[Anne]

Thanks for coming by! I look forward to seeing your blog and reading about your new found passion.

That's a great tip to help me tell the twins apart. "Hey! Where's your sister?" and then she can say, "Mary is outside with the dog." And I'll be all set until they change their clothes again.

But what if she says, "She's outside with the dog?" Or they both arrive at the same time? I guess I probably need to confess to them that I'm confused and just try harder.

I'm sure there are all kinds of big differences that I'm just not seeing. Somehow my mind makes connections on the ways they are alike, not how they are different.

Did your twin get into horses, too?