Do you still think your adult children are beautiful

[TheLastShanty]

I have little ones who I think are the best looking children I've ever seen 😁 do you still continue to think this as they get older?

It's about the love, not objective physical appearance. It's a gorgeous thread.

My girls are both stunning and my boy is the best looking man I know. They're all early 20s and I'm amazed that average old me produced such stunning people!

I always say this 😂 why do people say every baby is beautiful 🤣 my eldest was so long but skinny and loads of gathered skin when he was born, he was 5lb 13 he was a ugly baby. But he was cuter as he put weight on, but I'm the only one that says it about there kids? 😂 Like I loved him regardless but.. he just needed to grow into himself. My other 2 cooked better they where beautiful. I think you'd know 😂

My DD is absolutely stunning. Everyone says so, it’s not just me. She’s brave, popular and an amazing mother. I can’t believe I made her.

Without a doubt , yes

I don't think it is pure coincidence. Have you read about the epigenetic effect? A friend sent me some stuff about it and I have been reading about it.

Maybe coincidence, but actually all the non biological children I know, (from a tiny sample of just 4 admittedly) do really look like their birth mother to me. So I got interested and now am falling into a hole of reading!

Then adopted children, despite nit sharing biological links at all, very often adopt mannerisms that remind people so strongly of their adoptive parents that brains get confused over what similarity they are seeing. So we perceive them as looking alike.

It is fascinating!

Same. Mine literally commented on Facebook the other day that her family “aren’t photogenic”. I remember a cold caller in the 90s trying to sell family photoshoots and she said “sorry but all of my kids are ugly”. We’re northerners though so it’s all good 👍🏻

Yes - you're absolutely right. I've actually read everything I could lay my hands on, because it fascinated me. And I think there's a strong social tendency to presume a parental figure is a relation.

I just say 'it's pure coincidence' because I don't want DD ever to feel embarrassed that I'm not her biological mother. I don't want her ever to feel as if she should look, or act, or behave like me. I want her to know that we're not biologically related - and that's ok! It is totally separate from how much I love her as her mother.

Most children and adults are average looking. Surely most mumsnetters don’t actually think their adult child is objectively beautiful.
Beauty comes from within and every child is beautiful to their parent but it’s impossible for everyone on this thread to have ‘beautiful’ adult children.
Beautiful to them is a different matter and lovely in itself.

My DD is16. She's pretty, she has blue eyes, blonde hair, nice skin, and a lovely smile.

A few weeks ago she was chatting away during dinner and I couldn't take my eyes off her, she was so beautiful.

She still wrecks my head though.

My son , age 21, has always been very handsome.

My kids are adopted so their good looks have nothing to do with me.

I don't think my children are stunning or beautiful to be honest. As a toddler one of them was very pretty (and sometimes got stopped on the street) but now wouldn't stand out in a crowded room (for good or bad).
The other is very kind and very smart and a lovely person to be around but was never a beautiful baby or child. Always looked older than their years.

When I read threads like these I think of Damien Hurley. He wasn't a good looking baby but grew into such a beautiful man. I don't think my kids will blossom like he did though (unfortunately!).

Mine was 5 12 and ugly! I still loved him though. He turned a corner at six months ;-)

My two are now young adults. They are lovely looking. Nice colouring (mixed race skin) and slim and tall. Not supermodels and I know they are not the best-looking people in the world but they are just gorgeous to me. They are my beauties.

They are beautiful people which is what matters.

Looks wise they are absolutely fine. Average, I would say.

Which is a bloody miracle considering me and their dad are both mingers.

Just what I was thinking! Presuming the OP was just talking about physical attractiveness (so not beautiful inside etc.); even in an average primary school class of children, there will only be a handful that are objectively very pretty /attractive looking, most will just be average and a few very plain or odd looking.

When they are adults some very pretty children become quite average looking and some 'ugly ducklings' turn into swans, but overall most adults aren't stunningly beautiful. Obviously there is a sliding scale of attractiveness, and you can still be good looking or pretty, but that doesn't mean drop-dead gorgeous.

I have a fairly new group of friends through a hobby. They all knew my son before they knew me. They have told me what a lovely person he is, and how good looking. My grandson’s nursery staff always tell me what an absolute charmer he is with a smile that makes hearts melt.

Nah.
I mean, objectively, mine are fairly average looking.
But they always were.
I mean, they are lovely people, which I happen to think is far more important than what any of them look like.

My little boy is 2 and he’s so so cute and absolutely beautiful but he was an ugly newborn. Dh says I’m so harsh but he’s either blind or lying. DS was swollen red and puffy and his face just looked like a chipmunk. I’m still jealous when people post photos of their baby days or hours old and they’re beautiful, mine took about 3 weeks to unswell and look cute.

My friend's mum says DS looks like an old fashioned movie star - so I am sure I am not biased. He is also funny, witty, quirky and clever. And autistic. So apart from being gorgeous ( and a glorious red head) he is rather fab.

Oh and as a baby he was scrawny and mottled - he didn't become cute for a while!

I remember when mine were born I was rendered speechless by how beautiful they were and felt sorry for other parents whose children were not as stunning as mine. (Pobably not entirely joking. I was a sleep deprived, hormonal twat)
I look at their newborn photos now and they actually looked like tiny squidgy really cross cabbage patch kids like all babies do.

even in an average primary school class of children, there will only be a handful that are objectively very pretty /attractive looking, most will just be average and a few very plain or odd looking.

Although blunt, this is a fair observation.

From when they were approx nine or ten years old, I could never tell the difference between four different boys in my kid's class. They all had light brown hair and looked so similar to me. There were others in the class that just weren't memorable in any way. In my other kid's class, I can recognise the plain kids because they all have features that are memorable whether that is being overweight, frizzy hair, pointy noses or chins.......the ones that are harder to remember are the ones that blend together like the four boys I mentioned above (my own DC is one of the ones who blend into unremarkable looking kids.)

I think my DD is beautiful and always have, but I think the crucial bit is I wouldn't care if she wasn't, she'd still be amazing to me because I'm her mum.
I'm most proud of her achievements that she has worked incredibly hard for. I made her so I get credit for her physical beauty🤣 but she has become a hardworking, passionate, loving, level headed adult and that's all her.

But the OP isn't asking about what is 'objectively' the case.

The question is, do you think your child is beautiful? And if so, do you still think so if they're an adult?

Exactly this! They can't all be the most beautiful people objectively, there are very few people who really are.
Mine are objectively average looking, they dress well, have great hair, skin, teeth, keep fit etc but I absolutely love how they look, even as children I knew they weren't the prettiest in the class but to me their faces were absolutely perfect.
You can think your children look completely wonderful to your eyes but still realise they're probably not beautiful to the general onlooker.

My DDs are very average, I'd say. Both their faces light up when they smile and their funny, zany personalities add more character to their faces than conventional beauty would.