To not know my own child

[Crowwithgardenhose]

Bought 3 year old DS a new swimming costume, and aside from thinking he looked grown up thought no more of it.

Then at the pool went ice cold with terror when I saw a man walking out with him. Thankfully realised it was another boy with blonde hair and an identical swimsuit before I made an arse of myself!

So AIBU to not know my own child? And has anyone else ever done similar?

I once spent 40 odd minutes watching, and cheering on, the wrong boy. They are pretty hard to distinguish when wearing very little and have hair plastered to their heads. Don’t worry about it.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 The kid’s real parents must have thought you were a very enthusiastic spectator!

I thought this kid with the same jumper was my son at soft play for ages until they came out at the same time.

Honestly, if you’re human I’m sure you do worse than this as a mum so don’t so about it!

Proudly say watching ds's army passing out parade phone on video mode... His db pointed out I wasn't actually recording his db...
Mortified..
Tbf they did all look the same in uniform and shaved heads!

😂

Ds has a genetic condition that means he looks very distinct, I can spot him at a thousand feet. Except when we are at groups for people with thr same condition. First time I kept trying to hold the wrong child’s hand and got the white hot panic because I couldn’t see him in the group. I sent a pic to his granny who asked why I had put him in a horrible red jumper, wrong kid granny.

How funny because yesterday my daughter had a swimming lesson. And I thought she was picking her nose in the pool and I was telling her to stop. It wasn't her, it was another girl on the lesson. Little girl looked at me as if to say who I am 😂

Oh, I can never identify my kids in a swimming pool. I now buy DS bright neon swimwear, which helps when I’m on the pool without my glasses on too.

I once stroked my daughter’s hair at Reception drop off, only to eventually realise it was just another girl with the same haircut…

When DS started playing football he was one of three kids on the team the same size and with the same colour hair. Then they're all wearing the same kit. From a distance the colour of their boots was the only way to tell them apart.

I am the same on a football pitch. Followed the wrong kid for 45 mins. I blame my old eyes.

I once told my son off for eating a strangers sandwich in the park only to realise it wasn't my child and that child was, in fact, eating him own sandwich.

I went to the zoo and there was a child in the same coat and at one point I was holding my son yet still my heart went when I saw the child in the distance

Followed my dd’s car home in my own car once. Only when we got near home I realised it wasn’t her or her car. Luckily whoever it was was going the same way as me!

I always bought my DDs matching butt-ugly, dayglo- coloured swimsuits that I was sure nobody else would ever choose, just to be able to see them among the hordes at the pool or the beach.

Me and my sister were watching my 2 nieces play on the sand by the edge of the water. My youngest niece had on a costume with a ruffle skirt thing over the bottom of costume. We sat on beach drinking coffee, chatting and watching them from a distance. After an hour my sister went down to put more sun cream on them. My elder niece was there playing with another little girl with exactly the same costume as my younger niece but it wasn't her. My sister and I spends 40 mins walking up and down the beach looking for her and calling her name. Eventually we found her sitting by the ice cream stand. She said she was waiting for her ice cream. 🤷

Once grabbed my kid by his coat in a supermarket dragging him out of some random mans way and telling him off "How many times do I have to tell you to watch where you're going?!"
DD behind me "Mum that's not X" It was the random mans son. I wanted a hole to swallow me.

I almost hugged the wrong child goodbye at nursery once. DD ran ahead while I hung up her bag and coat, then I went in to say goodbye. There was another little girl with the same jumper at the closest table. Fortunately the staff pointed out DD was still getting her breakfast before I actually touched her.

Last week I gave my adult DS the death stare because he hooted as he drove past while I was out jogging, and I failed to recognise either him or his car.

It happens the other way round. I don't have children so was a bit taken aback to feel a small hand taking mine in a supermarket. I didn't even think I looked anything like his mother when I realised what was happening.

I am slightly faceblind, happens to me all the time. I know my child, just sometimes there is another child that looks similar. Next to each other of course I would know mine - but not on their own…

Same here!! I took video and pictures as they marched past. When they came past round again I realised I was filming someone else's son 🤣🤣

I once watched a first half of a rugby match before I realised I was watching the wrong team...DS asked if I'd seen his try...I lied!
(In my defence it was horizontal sleet and my glasses kept steaming up and all the boys were lagged in mud)

I was pushing my daughter on the swings when her sister walked away from her dad and started toddling over. I scooped her up onto my hip so she wouldn't get hit by the swing and kept pushing for a few minutes.
It took my actual toddler walking over and saying "Mummy!" before I looked at the kid I was holding and it was a random boy. I'm not even sure how long I had been holding him, he was perfectly happy and hadn't made a noise.
He wasn't even dressed like my daughter so I have no idea what happened other than he was about the right shape and I wasn't paying attention.

I saw a mother of five ginger children tell off and try to get my ginger girl out of the pool. She was so embarrassed and said she’d just assumed my daughter was one of hers - I thought it was hilarious.

It's easily done. When my DS was in Y2, his class was in a dance show at a big theatre. He had longish red hair, as did a little girl in the same class, and they were all in the same costume. The little girl's mum came up to me at the end and confessed that she'd been watching my DS the entire time and only realised a few seconds from the end.

My kids are 19 and 15 and to this day I can't differentiate them on the phone, even though I have one of each 😂, hoping that when DS's voice brake it will get easier.