Big Kid

Sometimes in life, the right answer is the obvious one staring you right in the face. You could apply this to anything, I'm sure, but the mother of identical quadruplets decided to apply it to her kids. She sat all four boys down and shaved numbers in their hair so their teacher could tell them apart on the first day of school.

You have to give her an A-Plus for creativity, right? I feel for the parents of multiples, I really do ... because I have known enough multiples over the years who liked to screw with adults (which may or may not be one of the reasons I secretly wish I was a twin!).

Actually, come to think of it, all kids like to screw with adults, don't they?

I've read a lot of the comments around the web since the news broke about Tan Chaoyun's grand plan to make sure teachers could tell one of her quadruplets from the next, and more than a few have asked why she didn't just tell her sons to introduce themselves.

Maybe she did. But maybe she also knew her kids better than the rest of us did. Maybe she knew she had four little imps on her hands.

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There's nothing wrong with that. I'm raising an imp too -- albeit just one (my hat, quite frankly, is off to those awesome Chinese parents!).

It's one of those deliciously devilish things that you can love and hate about your kid all at the same time, but it's true. Kids love getting one over on adults.

My daughter is particularly obsessed with the notion of April Fool's. At 7, she still believes that it should apply to every month, and tries pranking me constantly. When I am "tricked," she bursts into uproarious laughter, through which I can just barely make out "September Fools!"

Needless to say, she needs to work on her delivery.

But multiples -- especially identical multiples -- have a very obvious advantage over other kids. They can actually switch one another out so the teacher or their pals get confused. My twin uncles aren't identical, but they did it. I had identical twin neighbors who did it. It's part of the fun of being who they are -- and who can blame them? The rest of the kids are limited to waiting until there's a substitute and insisting that they really ARE all named Bobby Jones (you so did it, didn't you?).

Check out these adorable little quads!

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What do you think of what this mom did to keep her little imps in line? What kind of pranks do your kids like to play?

Image via LiveLeak