Naperville Quintuplets Turn 18

Photo Credit: Bridget Erklin Collins

By Amie Schaenzer

The Collins quintuplets from Naperville have marked off a major milestone in their lives on Tuesday when they turned 18 years old.

The quintuplets -- Padraic, Grace, Aidan, Elizabeth and Clare -- first made headlines when they were born in 1996 in Phoenix, Ariz., At that time, they were Arizonia’s first set of quintuplets, said mom, Bridget Erklin Collins, in a response to Patch.com.

“We have wonderful, caring, beautiful children. They are all healthy. These days we are not as noticed in the public so sometimes I forget how rare our situation is or how different our family is from others,” Collins said.

Over the years, there have plenty of challenges for Bridget and Bill Collins as they juggled raising their family, which includes an older son, Liam, who is 21 years old.

The challenges ranged from getting five babies to sleep through the night to potty training to making sure six car seats were secure to, more recently, teaching five teens how to drive, Bridget Collins said.

“Then there is the competition and times when one does not do as well as another and trying to be happy for one but sad for the other,” she said.

And, of course, there is the financial aspect of raising quintuplets. For that reason, the Collins children have been told they will foot their college bill.

“College has always been their responsibility. Unless we win the lottery, we can not send six through college,” she said. “They are working hard academically and saving.”

Grace is hoping to enroll in the media program at Illinois State University next year while the other four quintuplets are planning to attend the College of DuPage.

As for plans for birthday celebrations, Bridget said they had a party with family and close friends over the weekend and plan to head out to dinner Tuesday night in Naperville.

“Our oldest son works at Shinto and is treating us to dinner,” she said.