Genetics- you sly dog. It’s something we all learn the basics of in high school. But let’s be honest, unless your career is science related, who remembers all the details?
Well, maybe I should have paid more attention, because our family is living proof of the wonders of genetics!
When I was pregnant with Asher, a huge thing on my mind was that he was healthy. Something every mom wants. Of course I wondered what he would look like, but overall, I wanted everything where it should be. Ten fingers, ten toes. While every child is wonderfully made and special, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I also wanted him to be as “normal” as possible. That may sound bad, but I’m just being real here. Life is hard enough even when you’ve got that going for you. He was born and pronounced healthy. And he had a lot of hair.
The nurses started talking and the words “redhead” and “ginger” were flying around. I was thinking, “Excuse me- but I don’t have a redhead. My kid is not a “ginger”. They must have been talking about someone else. But as a nurse cleaned Asher up and gave him a bath, it did in fact reveal that my boy had beautiful red hair. Lots of it.
After some self- examination, my initial denial stemmed from the basic fact that Brandon and I both have dark brown hair. Oh genetics; you and your hidden agenda. And second, that the word/name “ginger” has had a negative connotation. I honestly still don’t like the name. Mama bear in me still goes active when I hear it- ready to protect my young. Pretty much forever, unless they managed to reach Opie statue, the red headed kid is not who you wanted to be since they were made fun of. (If you don’t know who Opie is, please Google him. He’s also known as Ron Howard. He kind of had a hand in shaping our society through movies.) Yet the pendulum seems to be shifting! Take look the next time you watch a movie or binge watch Netflix. Red headed actors are popping up everywhere! I digress…
Brandon and I soon realized that Asher’s hair color was the cause of a lot of attention. A lot! Nurses and other hospital employees came from all over saying they heard there was a red headed baby. And they LOVED him! This was our first exposure to the attention (mostly all positive) that would come through the years due to Asher’s hair color. Who knew?!!
Three years later our little Maggie came along. When she came out (I had a c-section) I asked Brandon first if she was healthy (which she was), closely followed by, “does she have red hair?” We were 2 for 2. Man, we really should go to Vegas sometime!!
So where does the red hair come from? I know you are in serious suspense. On my side, my grandfather. Asher actually has a decent resemblance to him. On Brandon’s side, when he grows out his beard, it has a reddish tinge to it. Otherwise, it must be distant in his family line. I wish my grandpa was alive to see Asher today. I think he’d be proud of his fellow redhead. I’m proud we were able to carry on the gene.
Do you have a story on recessive red head genes coming out after skipping generations? Share it!
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6 Comments
Amanda, I love these posts and the red hair in the beard is a Dahl thing. Dale had red in his beard and so does Seth. You are an awesome mom! Karen
Thank you so much Aunt Karen!! I so love to see the genes carried on! Thanks for supporting our blog!
LOVE your blog! My husband’s mom had red hair, although none of her children knew it because she was dying her hair from the time they were born, and they all had brown hair. But ALL of them thought they were so cool because in the summer months they would get streaks of red in their dark brown hair. Even my husband’s beard would have steaks of red if he spent a lot of time in the sun. And of course his first born daughter, while born with sandy brown hair, turned out to be a red-head by the time she was a teen. By the way, we can all thank South Park for all the negative “ginger” talk! : )
Thanks Monica!! I know, I wish everyone could just be proud of their red hair, but unfortunately there has been so much negative attention over the years. Hope that changes. Brandon gets some red in his beard, too. Thanks for your support of the blog!!
I love your humor and good nature towards people that are amazed and somewhat awed by your beautiful red headed children. For me, it seems like I’m seeing a walking miracle of the beauty of God’s creation. Only God could give us this rare occurrence to ponder.
Maybe it’s His way of pointing out the beauty he’s created all around us. I don’t know.
My granddaughter has Titian hair – like Nancy Drew. Redder than strawberry blonde, lighter than pure red hair. She has the personality that matches her hair; creative, magical, firey. Who knows where it comes from (Swedish descendants?) Who cares, she’s our unicorn.
My cousins have 3 out of 6 kids that have red hair. They’ve lately been the brunt of the “ginger” jokes and jibes. I don’t understand that either, seems mean to me.
In any case, I look forward to reading your blog!
Thank you so much Kirsten!!
Your granddaughter sounds just beautiful- inside and out! I think it’s so great that her little personality matches as well. My son’s matches his hair, and I’m waiting to see how my daughter’s personality develops. So fun!
I agree that the jokes are too much and just mean. I pray that it’s not like that for my kids, but need to prepare them just in case. Either way, they are beautiful creations of God for sure (as all kiddos are)!!
Feel free to share with others who also might get a kick out of it. Happy reading!