To worry that my red haired child will grow up with a complex

[Cappuccinowithonesugarplease]

I will start off by saying I adore DS3's hair colour. Neither DH or I have red hair so this was a complete surprise.
We live in a European country where most people are dark haired.
Our DS is 2 and when we are out and about there are people commenting on his hair, stroking it, someone in a supermarket took a photo without permission to 'show his family' and this summer one person even pointed and said in her own language 'what a white child'!
I know in the uk during my childhood in the 90s there was a fair amount of bullying, but i do worry a bit here that he will be singled our or bullied because of his hair colour. I want him to embrace his natural colouring. His older brother is 7 and goes to school with no problems so I hope I'm just overthinking it.

You are over thinking it. It may change colour as he gets older (lots do) but also it will be something that helps build some resilience in them. Don't kids these days want to be a little different?

It reminds me of this video with the dad trying those glasses for color blindness for the first time

My daughter has light ginger hair and we only get compliments wherever we go.

My DS is ginger, none of this strawberry blonde but full on ginger. He has just started high school and never had any bullying or negativity at primary school or since starting high school.

We have always been very positive about his hair and he loves it. Because its curly as well people were always stopping us when he was younger to say how gorgeous his hair is. He still gets a fair few comments, so combined with no teasing or bullying at school, it's hardly surprising he loves it!

Wow that's so beautiful!

I am 32. I was raised in NZ and was bullied relentlessly for my hair in school, but I also had older women and people constantly telling me how gorgeous it was.

My nephew is 12 and was absolutely shocked to hear I was bullied for my hair and said it's just not something anyone his age thinks about these days. He lives in the UK.

From what I understand bullying for red hair has pretty much faded out into non existence nowadays.

I now live in Asia and people ask to touch it or take photos with me lol

All ours are red heads and have never have major issues. Bully's will pick on anything - too short, too tall, too thin, too fat. At least we had a heads up for ginger jokes or mean kids! Embrace it. It's a lovely colour

Dd is 17 and has lots of red curly hair. She's never had a problem in South London. I think younger people are generally much more tolerant of any differences these days. I hope it's the same where you are.

A female friend of my DS is red haired, nasty comments were made at secondary school by one particular girl and she now dyes it sadly . Recently left so hoping she will embrace her beautiful hair again

We used to call my son 'Flame Boy', like a character out of a superhero film, you could see him coming his red hair flapping in the wind - he loved it

Sounds like you are onto it!😃

I would be more worried about the risk of skin cancer with his very pale skin in a country where people have naturally darker skin tbh.

It's quite conservative where I am, I know some people of colour get a hard time here, my friend moved back to the uk because of negativity about hers and her daughters skin colour :( which is such a shame. It's progressing but it's slow. There is also a number of Romani which a lot of people don't like but they have been here for centuries. It's a bit like Britain in the 1980s in some ways. But thankfully there has been no negativity as such about my son's hair just that it's on the long side!

We keep him in the shade in summer. There are lots of tall trees and covered porches so this is easy to do here.

My red haired, neither of us is red, child hasn’t experienced bullying over his hair colour, we are in the UK. I think it’s gorgeous tbh I spent years trying to dye my hair that really rich shade of auburn and failing as a teenager. If anything I find other parents comment on it in a nice way.

We are in Scotland though so there seems to be a redhead or two in every class.

I think you’re being ridiculous. This isn’t medieval times. I’m red haired, English, never had an insult in my life. My 18 year old is also a red head, again, never had an insult in their life.
You’re talking about red hair like it’s some horrendously disfiguring feature. It’s a hair colour op. I suspect it’s you that’s not overly keen on it, otherwise why would this thought even enter your head.
Everyone in my family is brunette (and I mean everyone, cousins, aunts, uncles etc etc) I never once felt like the odd one out.
Its. Just. A. Hair. Colour

In my very limited experience I've noticed that kids in the UK are bullied or teased for red hair. Elsewhere it is noted with more curiosity or admiration.

My youngest son has red hair (now 14). We taught him from a very young age to embrace it as his super power and he was nicknamed "The ginger ninja". Look up all the cool stuff about vitamin D production and ageing better!

My son has not once had any bullying because of his hair colour. There was one time in the first year of secondary where an older kid pushed past him in a corridor saying "Move it ginge", the entire corridor surrounded the older kid to make him apologise, which he did. Not one problem since.

I really don't think its much of an issue now for kids. At least, that's our experience.

When I was growing up in the 80’s my mum used to take us to London on day trips and I remember a lot of Japanese tourists stopping and asking to take a photo of me because of my red hair.

I like to think that all over Japan there’s a load of photos of me stood outside Buckingham Palace 🤣

Being different can work for or against you but there’s no guarantee either way. In my experience kids who are bullied have no real cause to be but if someone wants to they’ll find a reason.

It's trendy now, I can no longer tell who has natural red hair! It's also really beautiful, hence I think the interest. People can be strange about photos. There's a polaroid of my siblings in a double buggy in someone's loft in Japan.

That's brilliant! Some of these posts have really reassured me 😊

My DD has red hair. She is happy with her hair and it's a big part of who she is.
It has always attracted a lot of attention.
Mostly very positive when younger - as it was extremely pretty, long and gently curling.
But less so at High School. But I do think it's a case that if you have someone who wants to give you a hard time they'll find something and red hair is an easy target.
Now she's a bit older and is at college the teasing has stopped.

This is interesting, who was the presenter and what did they say? It was a huge bullying thing in the 80s and 90s, but through my nephew I’ve witnessed it’s not a thing that’s picked on anymore, everyone loves it, he’s turning into a big curly red haired Viking now he’s 17, it’s worrying because I’m sure it was only a few weeks ago I was carrying him around as a toddler, time goes fast!

Redhead here. Was teased about it growing up, but not bullied, and always had lots of lovely compliments. If I go abroad I have seen people taking sneaky photos, but I find it quite funny! I actually moved from some people as I thought I was in their way but they followed me and carried on taking photos 😂We also don't go grey, the colour just fades....