Shenzhen quadruplets has 'numerical' hairdos as teachers always mix them up

 The quadruplets with the numbers 1 through 4 on their heads. 

WHAT would you do if you had four children who looked so much alike that nobody could tell them apart?

A mother surnamed Tan in Bao’an District has found a solution to that dilemma.

Tan, who sent her quadruplets to primary school Monday, designed a new hairstyle for each of them. She had a barber shave their heads and, with the clippers, write a number in each of their haircuts — 1 through 4 — so their teachers and classmates wouldn’t mix them up, local Chinese-language newspapers reported yesterday.

"When I took them to register at the school, teachers said they could not tell them apart and were afraid of making mistakes in the future. They look too much alike and even their father cannot tell them apart sometimes,” Tan said. “I thought about it for a long time and got this idea.”

It was not easy to get the special hairdos.

"The barber put stencils on their heads to shave the numbers,” Tan said.

Teachers already appreciate the effort.

"It’s such a brilliant idea,” one unidentified teacher said. “We will not make mistakes in the future.”

Tan drew wide attention in the city after giving births to the quadruplets in 2006.

Because her family has financial difficulty, many residents and companies have donated money and goods to help them raise the children.

Now she is a housewife and the family lives on her husband’s monthly income of 6,000 yuan (US$945).

"We are not rich, but my children are all smart and healthy. They’ve learned a lot of famous poems and kuaiban (a type of rhythmic comic talk) and are now learning Latin dancing,” she said.

SOURCE: Shenzhen Daily