We were all standing in the checkout line at the grocery store on April 1st when Stephen realized that there was another little Wyatt standing in front of us. And this Wyatt turned out to be standing in line with his mother and twin brother! So then Stephen struck up a conversation with the mother (I don't talk to strangers) and we had a pleasant conversation about twins.

Toward the end of our conversation she commented that we don't seem to dress the boys alike any more. We never dressed them alike, so we just smiled and nodded. She went on to say that in exchange for never having got a daughter her reward was to dress her twins alike. That was her little treat as mother. I was horrified by this statement for many reasons.

First, for the life of me I don't see the logic between not having a daughter and dressing my sons alike.

Second, I've never met an adult twin with fond memories of being forced to dress identical to their sibling. Have you?

Not to say that Henry and Wyatt have never left the house in matching outfits. They have. But not since they were infants. Plus, all those clothes were gifts. Plus, I really categorize baby clothes as pajamas and pajamas don't count.

Okay, wait. Their snow clothes match. They're not identical but they're damn close. However, this is for the sake of sparing us all from arguments and comparisons (and we're not doing it next year). It's meant to be fair, kind of like our past approach to gift giving.

Point being, I would never dress my children in identical clothing for what I see as my own gratification. It's not my bag. But would you? If so, what's your reasoning? And is gratification the wrong word to use?

Dana used to dress me and Jack and Dylan alike. We had matching tie-dyed shirts, white shorts, and turquoise Converse high tops. She made us wear these outfits to various gatherings for an entire summer. We also had to take pictures in these outfits. The photo collage still hangs in my parent’s living room. I know she thought it was cute but I’m not afraid to say that it was totally lame - hence my opposition to whole thing.