I didn't recognise 2 year old DD when I picked her up from nursery

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DD is 2 (26m) and still has quite short hair so I've never had cause to put clips in it.

Today when I arrived to collect her she wasn't in her room so I went to another room they sometimes collect all the children in at the end of the day. En route I passed the kids' toilets where one of the staff was in the doorway helping a child wash their hands. I said hello, then 'how are you'. She looked at me slightly quizzically and proceeded to tell me about this child's day. I then looked and realised said child was wearing the same outfit as DD went in this morning, then a few more seconds and I realised it was my DD but literally had to go through the process of noticing the clothes then looking more carefully at her face before I twigged.

The staff had put a hair bobble in her hair to tie the front back. She looked completely different.

I know that if I pass someone in the street out of context I tend not to recognise them but I'm staggered that this extends to not recognising my own daughter straight away simply due to her hair being different.

I feel a bit bad about it and definitely feel embarrassed as the staff must have realised.

Is this remotely normal!?

I can never pick DD2 out from the preschool crowd. Thankfully she either comes at me full tilt or the other children start up a chorus of "DD2 's MUMMY IS HEREEEEEE!"

DD1 goes to school with several girls with the same build and hair colour. A few times I've tried to herd the wrong child home with me 😂
And I must look like one of the other mums from the height of a 3 yo as several times the same boy has grabbed hold of my leg then looked up in horror!

@Herocomplex was about to post the same thing. Got called to pick up dd early as she had a temp, they were all napping on a hot day, all looking identical with blonde hair in just nappies, I had no idea which one she was

When I was a young teen my DM got very upset with me for having apparently allowed a local salon to use my face on their shopfront signage without asking her first. I didn't have a clue what she was talking about, went down to the salon to look at the signage, and it was a totally different girl with the same colouring as me I don't think I ever fully convinced her it wasn't me!

Happens to me all the time. I think I look at hair more than faces. I didn't recognise my boss because he had a hat on. (Even though we were at a works do!). I didn't recognise my neighbour when she had her hair cut short.I. didn't recognise a close friend when she had a fringe cut into her hair. I always think another friend looks like Kate Winslet and nobody else AT ALL thinks that. I get confused in films when I don't realise it's the same person we saw before, or I think two different characters are the same person. I am terribly confused between Adam Sandler and Ben Affleck.

DP once arranged a surprise visit for my birthday from DD. We went to the train station to collect his 'colleague' and 'drop him at work'. I sat in the car for 10 minutes telling DP that the girl over there looked 'sort of like DD'. He said he despaired of me at that point! It was DD obviously. She was 24 so I should be used to her by now!

Did you need glasses as a child, op?

No, I had very good eyesight as a child!

I have glasses now but don't bother to wear them as I feel I can see well without.

My mum picked me up from the airport after my first holiday abroad without her when I was 18. I'd gone extremely brown and she had no idea it was me. I had to walk right up to her before she recognised me even though she'd been scanning everyone coming out of arrivals.

Is this remotely normal!?

It's a fairly normal occurrences for me, so in that sense yes it is normal.

But it seems other people don't have this experience? I've always assumed that it happens to everyone. How interesting if it doesn't! I'm very tuned into voices, so I know who the person is (if it's someone I know well) as soon as they speak.

I find it difficult to recognise people when I see them out of context. For example, I know who everyone is in my am-dram group, but if I meet one in the supermarket or in the street, I often don't recognise them.

This happened to me yesterday afternoon. I'm so used to it. I never realised it isn't a universal experience!

I must have some kind of face blindness. I can definitely recognise people I know well, but I have real difficulty distinguishing between people I don’t know well or in films.

I work with 2 women who look identical to me - tricky, but they often give themselves away by talking about their specific areas of work!

My pet hate are films with a cast of identical people. Film makers, please make sure your actors look different from one another!

What a really bizarre thread. I guess it's true that you don't understand something unless you've got it/been through it as I'm finding all this rather disturbing

csa26. Your post really made me laugh.

Wow, didn’t realise there were so many others with this problem. I can recognise people I see constantly but can still be confused by a similar person.
Before I realised I had the condition and that it had name I used to suffer acute embarrassment at work. People one sees frequently expect to be recognised and if I needed to seek someone out for, say, information, in another team I found t impossible to find them, even though we may have met the previous day.
Following tv programmes is so difficult when the cast of 12 might as well be a cast of two (a male and a female). Serials I can binge on make it much easier because I get the opportunity to get to know the actors.
Even in my dreams I don’t see/recognise faces; I just know who they are.

I have minor FB. Typically only with people I've barely met. But...

I worked as MSA at school. The other MSAs said that reception DS was interchangeable with another lad in same group ("Ned"). I dismissed the other MSAs as being silly... untilI was on the playground, and kept confusing Ned for DS.

I can remember huge list of lifestory facts about a person but totally forget their name. I find voices quite distinct, at least. That movie thing where someone says "I never forget a face!" used to baffle me. All faces are forgettable.

PMSL. If any consolation, OP, I didn't recognise my own mother when I bumped into her in John Lewis. It's just the way we are.

Oh god me too. Films are a nightmare. Everyone on Love Island looks the same. Never spot family in the street. The winter it was last snowed I recognised nobody because everyone had a hat on.

What's worse is that I used to be a teacher. I had to make notes about pupils to help me. Heaven forbid they ever saw them ("long black hair, pale face, acne" etc, etc...)

I also find it hard to recognise people! But remember names for years, I could still tell you the majority of my primary school classes and my teachers. I've walked past my dd before as I didn't notice her, I don't feel bad about it though. My lovely dnan also has this and hasn't recognised me plenty of times, I have never taken offence.

A few weeks ago i was quite startled when some old geezer riding his bike in the village waved to me. Took me a while to realise it was DH.
(I didn't realise he was so grey )

A pp has said 'I've found my people' and that's exactly how I feel. I had never linked my face blindness for my dislike of most films but it's exactly that, I never know who is who they all look the same. I think mine has got worse with age.
I found it interesting that other people can tell voices apart, where I work I do lots of the phone and easily tell voices apart but when they come into see me I have no idea who they are until they speak.
I must come across as rude although I always do try and go ong with what they are saying.

But worst of all, by far, is spotting someone, thinking who the hell’s that, and realising it’s you in the mirror.

I’ve had this with myself.

Friend posted a photo and @ I took an irrational dislike to the women on the left who looked to me like a stuck up cow. Readers, she was me

About 2/3 people with autism have this, my own son, who has ASD has always gone by haircut etc..when he was little he used to run after bald men shouting the name of dh's bald friend! I am the opposite, like another poster, it's embarrassing how well I remember people from years ago when they don't recognise me and I always recognise actors from previous films they've been in.

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Good to know there are a few of us! Never happened to me with ds tho as he's always been the only ginger in the room 🤣🤣 when it comes to remembering/recognising clients and potential clients I am pretty rubbish if they don't ideal first! Xx

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