While most parents cringe at the idea of their children getting tattoos, this one dad is considering getting his son a tattoo—but for all the right reasons.
Posting on the forum Reddit, he went into detail explaining his reasons.
He and his wife have two premature twin boys, he says. There’s not much difference between the two, save for the fact that one of the twins, Aaron, suffers from serious health issues which require him have medication every four hours.
“If he doesn’t have his medication it leads to significant consequences,” the dad says. “The boys are 12 months old and are completely identical. Even me and my wife can’t tell them apart and have been drawing on Adams arm every day with permanent marker (Aaron has very sensitive skin and we don’t want to irritate it).”
This plan backfired when, after a bath, the marker rubbed off and their grandmother accidentally gave the medication to the wrong twin, Adam.
“Adam ended up very sick and Aaron in hospital for a week. This is a serious extreme situation and I don’t want to take this risk again. We have had other mix ups with the boys but it has never wound up this bad.”
The couple have tried numerous other things to tell the twins apart.
These included nail polishes, bracelets, anklets, colour-coded clothing, shaving one twin’s head and keeping the other’s hair long. Thus far every single idea they have come up with never worked as well as they liked.
Now they are looking for a more permanent solution.
“I read online about someone tattooing a single dot on one of their twins and also about piercing ears,” he said. “I really hate to say it but we are here. I need to do something permanent.”
The father took to Reddit so he could ask its readers for help; he and his wife has become desperate.
“I could have lost both my sons last weekend and I’m desperate,” he confessed. “I am only after permanent solutions. Believe me when I say we have tried everything else before and it didn’t work. Please help me. I don’t want to lose my boy.”
Initially, the father’s post—titled “has anyone tattooed their identical twins to tell them apart?”—received negative attention.
But people soon saw the method to his madness, and offered their support for his decision to tattoo one of his twins.
“I don’t understand these other posters. You said you could have lost both of your sons last weekend,” one user said. “A piercing or tiny tattoo is ABSOLUTELY appropriate if it saves the life of either or both of your children. Do what you need to do. I mean, don’t give one of your kids a butterfly tramp stamp, but something minimal and identifying sounds crucial for your family, not like a luxury.”
Another said: “When I saw the title of this post, I thought ‘who the hell would tattoo their kid?,’ but after reading how serious mixing them up can be, I absolutely think it’s justified.”
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