my 3 year old is much darker than the rest of us..

[esthermgr]

How rude of people to say those things to you. My family is very mixed and my babies are mutts of everything on the planet (as we all are, really, whether we know it or not!). Just tell your daughter that people ask about her because she's strikingly beautiful and mysterious.

People used to constantly ask me as a kid "What aaaare you?" [you have to imagine that in a Louisiana drawl] I always had a different answer, depending on my mood. Sometimes it was partly true, sometimes it wasn't. You can tell your daughter how lucky she is that she can travel almost anywhere in the world and fit in

From firsthand experience, being brown and ambiguous can come in handy in that respect!

 

[HenPen]

She is beautiful.....I had a similiar issue with my son,I had a very rude coworker,I won't call her a friend even tho her hubby and I have been long time friends,any way she always asked rude questions about my son when she finally had enough guts to ask me I looked at her with a shocked look and said "Your husband still hasn't told you!" A look of horror came over her face,I left it at that and walked away....it was never brought up again.....I did tell her hubby what I did and he just laughed and she NEVER questioned him.....Now that my son is a bit older he looks alot like my husbands side of the family so no further issues.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

When she was born (c-section), the nurses were convinced that I'd cheated on my husband (my kids are always much darker when brand new, and fade a bit as time goes on, so she was WICKED dark), and were acting all weird and secretive, and not wanting to show her to my DH, because they were afraid he'd realize I'd cheated... they said to me "your husband wants to see the baby." and I was like 'Uh huh...?" and they were like "She's really dark." and I was like 'uh huh." and they were like "no, she's REALLY dark." and then i finally figured out what was going on.. and turns out DH was getting it from the other side, they were like "The baby and her mother really need some time alone. some time just the 2 of them.." he was baffled, eventually, we ironed it all out. silly.

 

[SarahFair]

chickensducks&agoose :

When she was born (c-section), the nurses were convinced that I'd cheated on my husband (my kids are always much darker when brand new, and fade a bit as time goes on, so she was WICKED dark), and were acting all weird and secretive, and not wanting to show her to my DH, because they were afraid he'd realize I'd cheated... they said to me "your husband wants to see the baby." and I was like 'Uh huh...?" and they were like "She's really dark." and I was like 'uh huh." and they were like "no, she's REALLY dark." and then i finally figured out what was going on.. and turns out DH was getting it from the other side, they were like "The baby and her mother really need some time alone. some time just the 2 of them.." he was baffled, eventually, we ironed it all out. silly.

OHH! MY! GOSH!

sorry.. But I giggled a little, but it was at their ignorance!

My SO has cherokee on his paternal grandmothers side. Hes darker year round.
All the males in his famly with the exception of 2 (his brother and one cousin) all are dark haired, dark eyed, darker skin and look JUST alike. His niece got the dark gene and during spring, summer, and fall will get asked if shes mexican or native american. My kids both get dark skin really fast, I think its beautiful. I got asked about their darker skin this weekend, but by people who know we are both white..

 

[newchickgal]

She's adorable! One of the many blessings that my dh and I have, living where we do (Panama in Central America) is that families here can be a variety of skin shades. Nothing unusual about seeing a light skin mamà carrying her child who is darker by several shades or visa versa. Here there is no racism against skin color. If only everyone in the US would be like that (IMHO).

 

[mom'sfolly]

Man, people are so rude. My children look nothing at all alike, and the younger one doesn't really look like either my husband or I; he does however look exactly like my brother. So I have one muscular, with curly, sandy colored haired; light-eyed (blue, gray, green, it changes), fair-skinned child who tans and one dark-eyed (looks like he has no pupils) straight and dark-haired; medium skin-toned, really skinny kid who burns.

None of this matters, however, because people are people. It's not anyone's business what your heritage is, what method of conception you used, adoption status or anything else relating to your child. People have blended families, adopt, have sperm or egg donation and have kids with different partners. Your kid is your kid. I think a simple "why do you ask" would be your best reply. It makes people check their attitudes and behaviour.

Human genetics for skin, hair and eye color are complicated. Far too many kids get told by ignorant teachers that blue-eyed parents can't have brown-eyed children. Utter hogwash, and it hurts kids.

 

[newchickgal]

My brother (1st born) has blond hair and blue eyes. My sister and I, dark hair and brown eyes. Within our family we always teased my mom about my brother was the milkmans. But no one outside of our family would dare say anything like that-would be rude. We could tease because we all knew that it just wasn't so- he did have my dad's nose! By brother just got genes from my dads mom and my sis and I got genes from his dad.

 

[wischickenlover]

I have 5 childre, 4 boys, and 1 girl. My husband is half Native American and I am white. I have brown hair and blue eyes, as do my mother and father, as well as my DH's mother. People are always making snide comments to me about my children's coloring-they would expect them to have the darker skin and dark hair like my DH. Instead, every one of them has brown hair and blue eyes, like me. The comments are usually centered around the fact that blue eyes are a recessive gene....what if both of my parents, as well as his mother all have the brown hair and blue eyes? I can say with absolute certainty all 5 kids are our's. (sadly enough, very rare these days!) Yes, they all have the same father! And they all look alike...so much so that people say, "Oh, you must be a (insert last name)! I can tell because you all look alike!" I get so tired of the snide comments from ignorant people though.....how everyone thinks they must have had a white father because of the brown hair and blue eyes!!

 

[LarryPQ]

Wow, you are a better person than I! My children are little clones of their father---when #1 was born, he demanded a MATERNITY test. Seriously, it was like I was not even involved in the breeding process.

Once of my superpowers is spotting someone's insecurities within a few moments of meeting them. If the wrong person suggested my child was the "milkman's kid", they would end up quivering pile of weeping, blubbering, spine-less Jello. The adoption thing, I get and tolerate. Outright idiocy & rudeness--my politeness filters would turnoff like they never existed.

 

[chixie]

my aunt had twins one was white with white hair and the other twin looks hispanic. my grandpa was dark complected and my great grandma was pure indian