Ginger & worried about the future.

I'm a redhead and did get teased/picked on about it at school but that was 70's/80's and to be honest I think it was cos that was the main difference I had to other kids so if they were annoyed at me for something else that's what they used to attack me and there's any number of things that kids can do that with that you can't control.

As an adult I've mostly had positive experiences aside from pervy comments about whether "the carpet matches the curtains" from men who would be pervs anyway no doubt, and a couple of women who were very weird in not believing it was my natural colour! Inc a hairdresser! Once she was dealing with it up close she could see it was and was amazed (this comment is generally because it's not a uniform colour, so can in certain lights look like I have highlights which I don't. This is even more the case since I've started turning grey as even the greys aren't all the same shade of grey)

My dd is dark but her best friend throughout school is also a redhead and to be honest the more orangey red which isn't a "fashionable" preferred redness which I'm lucky to have (it's somewhere between a strawberry blonde and a light auburn) I'm more Amy Adams she's a more orangey Karen Gillan.

My point being dds friend and other redhead friends of hers didn't get anything like the crap I did at school.

That may depend on there being more redheads here though (west coast of Scotland)

All you can do is keep bolstering their confidence regarding their hair colour and themselves without necessarily making it a "thing" and IF they do get bullied stamp on it as hard as you can, don't dismiss or minimise it.

My dd had some Dickish comments about her naturally curly hair though as that is no longer the preferred fashion and we had much angst over her spending ages straightening every morning! She's more comfortable with it now but at school it was an issue.

Being a teen in the 80's with curly hair was fine as perms were all the rage, I did have it permed to have tighter more uniform curls at one point but it didn't go right and I didn't bother again

She'll be fine I'm sure

What I WILL say is make sure the schools keep on top of the skin care aspect! I burned horrifically a few times as a kid as this wasn't well known about then, it's better known now but we very fair people even WITH top factor sun block can still burn very quickly and badly in uk sun and it's bloody painful! Plus of course putting us at higher risk for skin cancer.

I have red hair. As a child adults would comment about redheads having a temper, which was trying, ironically the redheads I have known have been pretty chilled. You definitely stand out, which I found uncomfortable as a shy child, as an adult in work situations I have come to embrace being the different one when in a room of grey men in grey suits.
One odd thing is that I am assumed to be the mother of any red haired children I have anything to do with, even more foxed when with my red haired friend, as they try to figure how we are both the mother.
Also, when in Scotland you will be embraced as one of their own, just with an odd accent.
Of course, the big issue is the sunscreen and hats, the only thing I battled with my own poor mother about. The best of British luck with that.

To be fair, nobody is going to be too awful on this thread as we were originally talking about a 2 year old 🤐

I have a red headed toddler. She's gorgeous and tells strangers her hair is beautiful. I think red hair is seen as more desirable nowadays. Kids can pick on others for anything.

Your daughter sounds beautiful.

My best friend at school was a red head and I am dark but with curls. Apart from teenage boys shouting ginger nut and mop head at us, I’m not aware that she was bullied.

Try not to worry.

My DS is 7 and has ginger hair - like you I did worry about whether my perfect boy would be bullied, but he hasn’t been teased about it at all. He is full of confidence and thinks his hair is cool.

We have deliberately called him ginger/ginger ninja as a term of endearment as we hope it will then have less power if anyone tries to refer to his hair as a negative

He has had two ginger teachers for year 2 and his current year which has been great as they’ve made a fuss of their ‘ginger friend’ or ‘team ginger’

My dd is 13 she has dark red hair
Never been bullied about her hair
She’s started using red shampoo to make it look redder !!
She has a couple of red haired pals they call themselves ginger ninjas !!
It’s seen as a good thing !

I'm a redhead and have two ginger boys. I was never bullied and no one has ever said anything derogatory to them about their hair colour. We live in the North East and ginger hair is pretty common.

*bullied

Red heads are beautiful. I highly doubt your DD will be victimised, more revered! I think the ginger stigma thing is very outdated and everyone I know loves ginger hair and sees it as unique and cool. A lot of models have ginger hair, something that would not have been heard of when I was at school (in the 80s and 90s back in the days when people did get bulied over ginger hair )

My gran had red hair and she absolutely loved it, she was stunning and was so sad when her hair turned white!

I think it's stunning and very special. It's especially beautiful on kids. I am Irish though I suppose.
Sadly most kids get bullied for something or other. It's just the way of the world but there's more awareness nowadays and teachers are trying to stamp it out.

I was nicknamed Ginger or Carrots at school but I didn't regard that as bullying. Other people had worse nicknames - a Welsh boy called Druid and poor Smelly Jim. It was pretty normal to have unflattering nicknames then.

I think people use the terms auburn or strawberry blonde as they think people don’t want to be red or ginger

I’ve always said ds is ginger not strawberry blonde as so many will claim because he is and that absolutely fine

Oh I used to adamantly add, when I was younger and people teased me as 'ginger' that "it's not ginger, it's auburn", because I knew they used the term ginger as an insult. Now, I really don't mind whatever term someone uses be it ginger, auburn, or red, I'm not sure the exact shade mine is but as far as I'm concerned, the more ginger/red/auburn the better.

I'm so so glad people think the bullying for being ginger is much less of a thing now. I was teased for being ginger - I wouldn't say bullied, but a fair amount of teasing when I was at school (late 80s/90s) after we moved but also I didn't quite fit in for other reasons (had lived in London until 6 and then moved north to a very rural area) so I had a 'funny accent' and as people have said, children can be really mean and anyone slightly different can be a target. Didn't affect me too much, just made me cross, and didn't stop me loving my hair colour though, and as I've got older I've loved it even more and I hope I have ginger children! So I would be proud of your DDs gorgeous colouring, and hopefully from the sounds of it this is much more celebrated now.

Ds has red/ginger hair

Lots of people will say it’s strawberry blonde it’s not it’s golden red or ginger

His friends call him ginge from young some friends/family have called him ginger ninja non he takes offence to or said in a nasty way (and prepared him as many children have nicknames)

He doesn’t get teased only had compliments. once said he didn’t like his hair but he also didn’t like the shape of his head (he is 13 so not unusual to be critical of yourself)

Please don’t worry honestly I spent hours getting upset over what I though would happen and it really never has times really have changed

My friend has 3 red headed children who are all unique and gorgeous looking and all do child modelling and acting. They are adorable!

@CouldBeOuting fair enough - the other examples you give still don't float my boat, I think because I always feel it's best not to focus too much on anyone's physical characteristics, but I am probably overthinking! Sounds like your DD is able to say loud and clear what she's comfy with 👍👍👍

I'm not sure how I managed to describe DS as "classes-wearing" anyway - that'd be jolly heavy 🤣

Your daughter will be fine, she sounds very beautiful, I think red hair is very attractive on both genders, times have certainly changed, so please don't be worried about her been bullied, your stressing over something that may never happen, try focus on the now and not what ifs, it has helped me a lot with my own family, sometimes we overthink the worse.

"My niece has beautiful curly auburn hair, it's really stunning. I can't imagine she'll be bullied for it.2

1. Auburn is not ginger.
2. As I mentioned, red hair is seen as more attractive in females than males.

Great ginger song

our guide leader was TITCH not Twitch (damn autocorrect).

• That’s not prejudice! DDs family nickname is “Ginger” and she is totally happy with it!

Really?! Um, that'd be like my whole family calling classes-wearing DS "four eyes" as his nickname? Sorry, I do think nicknaming your kid along the lines of their unusual physical characteristic is maybe not the best idea - whatever that characteristic is.*

“Four eyes” would be taking the mickey out of someone’s disability not a physical characteristic.

Nicknames are usually based around physical characteristics in my experience. I’ve heard of people being called “blondie”, “curly” etc. My mother was “little legs” as she was under 5’ tall, my guide leader was known as “twitch” as she was smaller than most of us guides. Having ginger hair isn’t all that unusual and it certainly isn’t in our family although DD is our only ginger in her generation. If she didn’t like it she’d soon say - when someone tried to use the “wrong” shortened version of her name she was very quick to say “I don’t like being called that but feel free to use x, y or ginger”.

I have taught at least one redhead a year for the last eight years and not one single comment has been made about any of them.

This is primary though, I don’t know if secondary is different...