Explain to me that if genetically we are supposed to be made of the best bits of both parents

[EvangelicalAboutButteredToast]

Then why did my kids inherit my partner’s near sightedness when my vision was perfect until age robbed me of it.

its really odd.

For the same reason I got the comedy chest from one side of the family and the lack of shoulders from another

If you got the best bits automatically, why would anyone ever inherit a genetic illness?

I have two exceptionally good-lookig parents and sadly their dc seem to have been made up from the discarded scraps! I mean we're not terrible, but we definitely didn't inherit the best bits!

Sadly, just random which genes we get from our parents. But also the environment plays quite a role with most traits.

Also genetic traits aren't definite anyway. Genes are switched on and off by environmental factors. So you may have a gene that MAY give someone poor eyesight for example, but it wasn't switched on in you, but was in your son.

Massively simplified: in the wild, animals who have some sort of disadvantage are more likely to be killed by predators and less likely to attract mates, so they don’t breed much which means that those disadvantageous traits may die out over many generations.

I think this is likely what you were taught, so not complete bollocks, just doesn’t apply so much in our sophisticated civilisation where assistive technology is available and we don’t leave the non-alphas to perish, and some people even have sex with them.

So a very rudimentary explanation (in reality it is more complicated) for your children’s poor eyesight could be:

You got a dominant good eyesight gene from you mum
You got a recessive poor eyesight gene from you dad.
Good eyesight is dominant so that is what you experience.

Whereas DH got two recessive poor eyesight genes. As there is no dominant gene to mask, he experiences poor eyesight.

Many years later, you and DH have kids.

All DH can pass on are his recessive poor eyesight genes.

Whereas you can either pass on a recessive poor eyesight gene or a dominant good eyesight gene. It is 50:50 for any child which they get.

if they got your recessive poor eyesight gene and DHs poor eyesight gene they willl have poor eyesight and also pass this on to future generations.

if they got your dominant good eyesight gene and DHs poor eyesight gene, they will experience good eyesight but will have a 50:50 chance of passing either good or poor eyesight on to future generations.

hope that helps

Hybrid vigour.
It's too me all night to remember that phrase.
.

The human race will be lucky to make it 100 years more.

What a shit teacher! 🤣 either that or you weren’t listening…

Definitely not the best bits. My mum didn’t give me her (genetically better than mine) boobs..

we don’t leave the non-alphas to perish, and some people even have sex with them

As a myopic asthmatic with multiple allergies this made me chuckle!

20 years I would likely have died of a "weak chest" or "failed to thrive" at a young age, it is true.

Not any more, due to better medicine and IVF/ICSI

It won't be down to inherited genetic characterstics though.

Unless you consider the lack of will, ability or whatever to reduce climate change, or the desire to wage wars to be inherited genetic characteristics.

It's a random 50% from each parent not the "best bits"...

Neither of my parents wore glasses until they were in their 60s, yet both me and my sister wore glasses from about age 7.

The bit that seems most unfair to me is my dad is 6ft2 and my mum is 5ft5 yet I'm only 5ft4!

The best bits according to whom? How would the genes work out what is the best bits to pick and choose from?

Genetically made of the best bits of our parents? That doesn't even make common sense. It should be obvious what we inherit genetically is a gamble and we're made of random bits from both.

Some could inherit more random bits from mum and less random bits from dad, or vice versa; some could inherit slightly equal measure of random bits from both mum and dad.

You don't necessarily inherit the 'best' bits. Mendelian genetic inheritance is random. Also, as we discover more about epigenetics, it is increasingly clear that even when genetic code is inherited, how it is expressed can depend on environmental factors. Plus of course, some traits are a mixture of genes and environment.
I think you've got the wrong end of the stick about how genetics works. Interestingly, when it comes to eyesight, apparently as a race we are becoming more short sighted. Partly due to screen use and also because of our visual environment. Less exposure to long horizons and more built up areas also increases myopia!

This happened to me and my sister too, which we lament. My parents were / are stunning, and we are very average.

I wonder if you are thinking of evolution by natural selection where individuals with genes that are advantageous in a particular environment are more likely to survive and so pass these on to offspring. If so you need to remember that this is something that takes place over an extremely long time and can be seen on a population over time. It is also dependent on environmental selective pressures. In our modern world there aren't really any disadvantages to being shorter sighted as we have medical optikns that make up for it i.e. glasses. What ia advantageous in one environment may not be in a other and so in most circumstances it's hard to say what the 'best' ones would be.

Genes don’t determine everything. Genes aren’t always “activated”. (Unless in specific instances like 2x cystic fibrosis gene carrying parents). Genes can “predispose” you to certain things, but so can your environment. If your mum smoked heavily when pregnant, your DNA may have been messed up. I have health problems associated with this (child of the 70’s) as well as mum’s eating disorder. (She smoked instead of eating.) I didn’t know until my babies were born, but I have no milk ducts as a result of this and it’s more common in women my age than it’s acknowledged. (Also chronic hormonally-related migraines that leave micro scars all through your brain. Aortic valve deformity and other chronic health issues….Great legacy.)