Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6

Original poster

to wonder if all mothers/parents REALLY think that their child/ren are beautiful?

127 replies

MilliONaire · 06/01/2011 00:25

This is a follow-on thread from the 'parents boasting' thread I started earlier tonight...

I was wondering if parents (especially mothers) really do think their babies are the most beautiful? I don't mean loving them and accepting them for who they are but that all out 'my incredible child could win beauty competitions' type of adoration.

Or does any parent look at their child and think 'good job s/he has a great personality'

Just wondering....

OP posts:

treas · 06/01/2011 13:50

My dcs are both very photogenic and I personally think that they are not unfortunate looking.

However, what makes them stand out is their dark red hair. They are so used to being stopped by people in the street commenting on their "beautiful coloured hair" that once when I was trying to give them both a dressing down with the oh so witty line, "And what makes you two so special, eh!", they both pointed to their hair.

However, I can honestly say that not a single child at their school has been hit by the ugly branch on their way down the tree.

carabos · 06/01/2011 13:51

I have 2ds, DS1 is tall, dark and handsome and was a knock out as a baby and toddler, to the point where he was offered modelling work etc. DS2 is ginger, skinny and gangly and looked like a bit of old rope when he was born, scrawny and grey with a mop of what looked like orange nylon wire on his head. I adore both of them, but am certainly not blind to their looks. DS2 makes up for it by having a magical personality and is very special in his own way - madly popular at school and beloved by all. Everyone has gifts, not all of them aesthetic and parents need to be able to recognise their child's true strengths and help them make the most of them.

LadyBlaBlah · 06/01/2011 13:53

"A face only a mother could love"

I think people are generally quite deluded about their children, in a really really nice way.

RuleOfMum · 06/01/2011 13:54

Skyswept, I think we might have risked giving our poor DD a complex by starting with the truth early on.

As soon as she was handed to me, I just looked at this moonfaced creature and thought "oh god, THAT'S where all the chocolate I scoffed in pregnancy went." I took a snap of DD on the mobile to send to the office then decided against it when I realised she looked like a porky version of Davros (if you can imagine such a thing).

Even my parents took one look and said "Crikey, isn't she a little hamster cheeks".

Now she's growing into her looks and is more cherubic than lardy but we still laugh about her being a rather, ahem, "bonny" baby. I think it's time we stopped though because DS (22 months) greeted her with a cheery "Hello Fatty" the other morning. Oops.

Niecie · 06/01/2011 13:57

MrsThisis - I had that from old school friends who I didn't see much. When DS1 was about a year old I saw one of them and she said 'God he is so beautiful, I can't believe it'. Naturally, I was a bit until she realised what she said and had the decency to be embarrassed. I wasn't that bad!!! Or maybe I was but if I was it was because DS had drained away any looks I had by not sleeping at night and being awake all day too.

theoldtrout01876 · 06/01/2011 14:40

A friend visited me in hospital after the birth of Ds2 her comment on seeing him was "I hope he grows into that nose". I was like WTF theres nowt wrong with his nose,its a beautiful nose.Well here we are 17 years later and everyone still comments on his nose.I still cant see what everyone is on about,I still think theres nowt wrong with his nose and hes beautiful so I guess most mothers think their children are beautiful no matter what everyone else thinks.Well at least I do:o

beanlet · 06/01/2011 14:43

My brother looked like ET. He's not at all bad looking now (and expecting his own first DD)

badcoverversion · 06/01/2011 14:44

My OH often says stuff along the lines of "God it's weird how DS is just the most adorable looking little chap when you consider we're his parents..."

Charming!

nemofish · 06/01/2011 14:45

I do think my dd is gorgeous, but perhaps I am deluded?

(photo on profile ahem)

Niecie · 06/01/2011 14:47

No you're not deluded, Nemo.

SummerRain · 06/01/2011 14:49

All three of mine were awful looking the day they were born Like little chinese men who'd been hit with trains, lol.

I think they're all good looking now that they're older but can also see their > lesser physical qualities.

dd has fabulous hair and beautiful eyes and is overall quite pretty but she does have a long face and a tendency to make odd facial expression that don't help matters (think: horsey looking at times) and she has terrible teeth, really gappy and crooked, i'm going to have to sell my soul to the devil to afford the amount of orthodontist work it'll take in her teens to fix them.

ds1 is going to be a very handsome man and already is very good looking but he does have a very red face a lot of the time as he overheats quickly and his hair is very dry and straw like.

ds2 is extremely pretty, always mistaken for a girl that may translate to a handsome man or could end up being a very effeminate looking man.. who knows?! He has a few problems with his mouth which only time will tell how they affect the appearance of his face as he gets older (massive overbite, tongue tie, some facial characteristics related to slow closure of the palate)

God.... i've made them sound like gremlins....pmsl. They're bloody gorgeous

nemofish · 06/01/2011 14:50

Yay! Thanks Niecie.

Have no idea how it happened - me and dh are both a bit... erm... 'characterful?' fugly

PortBlacksand · 06/01/2011 14:56

My DSs are stunning (blonde curls, pale grey eyes) - even now they are smelly 8 and 10 year olds - old dears stop them in the street and give them money etc.

God knows how as DH and i are munters...and neither of us have grey eyes

saythatagain · 06/01/2011 14:58

I do believe that my dd is gorgeous...I'm quite astounded that me and dh produced her!

Haribojoe · 06/01/2011 15:05

DS1 was okay looking, DS3 is beautiful but DS2 was one ugly looking kid. I didn't mind admitting it, if anything I loved him more cause I felt sorry for him.

My Mum always said that the uglier a baby was the better looking they'd be later on. Strangely enough DS2 is now 3 and is stunning, even strangers comment on it.

FWIW my MIL was and still is horrified that I could think my own child was ugly.

IMO it's a fact of life, some adults are better looking than others and the same goes for babies.

AmazingBouncingFerret · 06/01/2011 15:05

Well I think my pair are the most beautiful children in the world ever ever everer.
I do get people commenting on them about their eyes etc, but doesnt everyone? You get chatting with someone who has a child with them and you compliment on hair, eyes etc? No? Just me?

potplant · 06/01/2011 15:10

I don't think my DTs are beautiful, they are beautiful. Its a fact.

FindingStuffToChuckOut · 06/01/2011 16:30

DD popped out all bright eyed & cherub looking and has got more and more gorgeous every day.

She is now 3 I'm fed up with people telling her how gorgeous/cute she is (i.e. 5 strangers in 2 hours while out shopping yesterday - one gave her a rose cause she was the "cutest thing he had ever seen"!). Yes she is, but you need more than that in life.

BTW I have no idea where she gets her looks from - must be classic gene combination lottery winner. Just as well she has a great personality to carry it off.

bruffin · 06/01/2011 16:34

"My Mum always said that the uglier a baby was the better looking they'd be later on"

When my cousin was born my uncle rang my mum up and told her how ugly he was. We got the picture and yes he was most definitely not a stunner. However he has grown up to be a very good looking man.

IWillCountToThree · 06/01/2011 18:05

DD1 was gorgeous from about 3 days old when her cone head disappeared, to 5m. Not sure what happened next but she looked really odd till about 2.5 when she suddenly shot up.
I only noticed this about 2 years ago!
She's 7 now and by god i wish i had her body shape! She can be a right moody sod too though.

DD2 was spotty as anything when born, then looked like a boy till she was 3. Now at 5 she's gorgeous. Green eyes, and the kind of hair that looks permanently highlighted

DS had awful facial ezcema but was still gorgeous on a good day! He's blonde, blue eyed and very cute at 15m. Divine!

Catnao · 06/01/2011 18:55

My son does not look as weird as his parents, at least.

RockLover · 06/01/2011 19:36

My dd has always been beautiful to me (although I do realise there are many children who would be considered more attractive), but I do feel she will be attractive when she is older.

When she was a toddler (she's 6 now) she was the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen and lots of people commented on her looks. Now I would class her as a normal, pretty 6 year old girl. :)

I am currently cooking a little boy (by my dp, who is not dd's dad) and I will be very interested to see what he looks like.

By the way, I am not a looker at all, and neither is dd's dad, so she must have just got the best of us both.

Lovecat · 06/01/2011 19:47

Used to work with a bloke, not a looker, he married a lovely lady who nonetheless fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down (yes, I'm a bitch) . They had 2 of the most beautiful children I have ever seen in my life - who grew into beautiful teenagers.

Of course I think my own DD is gorgeous, but she looked like a squashed wizened yellow pepper at birth, and still looks like a potato with a few strands of hair clinging to it if caught at the wrong angle. She's not photogenic, poor spud:(

However she has adorable chubby cheeks, rosebud lips and big blue eyes to go with her thin straggly blonde hair and a random woman on a train said she was 'a Kate Greenaway child' , which I took as a compliment...?

TheSecondComing · 06/01/2011 19:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hulababy · 06/01/2011 19:53

To me, dh and our family Dd is beautiful and adorable, and always has been. it is somewhat irrelevant what others think although nice comments are always pleasing to her.

As a baby dd had her moments when she didn't look her adorable best but she was and is fortunately pretty photogenic - also I took 100s of photos so can be choosy of which we keep and use.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6

Swipe left for the next trending thread