Four times the family fun
This year the New Zealand Multiple Birth Association celebrate its 25th birthday. This coincides with multiple birth awareness week from September 26 to October 2.
On average 15 sets of triplets and one set of quadruplets are born in New Zealand each year.
Star reporter Catherine Couch delves deeper into the life of a set a quads living in Christchurch. . .
Two's company and three's a crowd ? but what is four? Tai Tapu quadruplets Robin, Hamish, Rebecca and Nicholas Christeller would be best qualified to answer that question.
The nine-year-old Halswell School pupils were born one minute apart from each other on February 7, 1996.
Since the day they arrived innovation and novelty has become a part of their daily life.
While the four all celebrate their birthday on the same day, their family has designed a system of individual days for each one.
"Every two months we have a special day and we get a few presents and we get to choose what we want to do," Hamish, the oldest quad, said.
"Instead of deciding on one thing on one day we get a day to do what we want, which is great," he said.
The quads are used to responding to a special whistle created by their father, Bernard Christeller, which comes in handy when at a park or in a shopping mall.
"It was invented very early on," Mr Christeller said.
"Often when we went out the kids would run off in every direction and I have quite a loud whistle so we used this to gather them up. It's good when we go travelling," he said.
Rebecca, the only girl in the set, said having three brothers could sometimes be trying but she quite enjoyed being the only girl.
"It's quite cool because you don't have to share anything with your sister. And I have all my own clothes," she said.
The three boys all share the same classroom while Rebecca is in a different section of the school. "I don't mind it," Rebecca said. "I don't have to worry about them and see if they are doing their work and behaving."
Although they all agreed being a quad was great, it does have a downside.
"It's noisy," Hamish said. "And sometimes you are trying to read and they want to play a game and it's just annoying. And then you want to play a game and they are reading and they don't want to play."
He said board games also posed a problem, as many were built for a family of four.
# The Christchurch Multiple Birth Club is hosting a week of activities for families and friends of multiple births. A children's party will take place at the Christchurch Horticultural Centre from 10am to noon on September 28 and a fun walk will take place starting at the Hagley Park tennis courts at 10.30am on Sunday October 2.
For more information call club president Leanne Pascoe on 357-2057.
An annual conference is being held by the New Zealand Multiple Birth Association in Hamilton from September 30.
