I was at a basketball game recently with Max, one of my identical twin boys. A girl walked by him and said, "Bye, Max." I was momentarily thrilled that she knew which twin he was until I heard the dreaded, "or Sam." I asked Max if that happened often. He shrugged his shoulders and said "yes."

When I was researching my book Twin Stories (Wildcat Canyon Press, 2001), I asked dozens of sets of identical twins if they ever played tricks on people. The answer was surprising. Most of them said they were not the purveyors of mischievous behavior but rather the victims of mistaken identity.

Telling identical twins apart is often no easy task. It's especially difficult after birth. Fortunately for my husband, our extended families and me, one of my twins was born with a birthmark on his neck. Since it was technically more of a mole than a traditional birthmark, we made a quick assumption. "Mole" meant "Max." Life was simple – that is, until Max wore a collared shirt. Then we were in trouble.

One of the things we did, which is quite common, was to assign each twin a color. In our case, Sam usually wore clothes with green and Max with blue. We also paid quite a bit of attention to their personalities. As many moms will attest, twins generally develop a personality in the womb. In the case of my twins, Max seemed to be pretty calm but Sam was another story – very active. Even at delivery, Sam was the one who required more attention. These traits still continue today. Max is easygoing and Sam needs just an extra bit of attention, whether he's injured, sad or full of gusto.

There are many ways parents can tell their identicals apart. It became very obvious to us that our boys had different cries. We could always accurately tell who was crying, even through a baby monitor riddled with interference. The personalities seemed to come through, and the sounds themselves were different.

Many parents are also able to tell identicals apart by the size and shape of their faces. Max is slightly larger than Sam and has a rounder face. That was true when he was born and is still true today, despite their growth spurts, exercise and eating habits, etc. Sam's face is a little more chiseled.

Content on this site is not a substitute for professional medical or healthcare advice, diagnosis or treatment, and may not be used for such purposes. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical question or condition. Reliance on information presented on this site is at your own risk. This site contains the opinions and views of other users. Given the interactive nature of this site, we cannot endorse, guarantee, or be responsible for the accuracy, efficacy, or veracity of any content generated by our users.