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.

Just wanted to say that we're in a similar boat with my DS - he has blondish hair and we also live in a European country where most people have olive skin and dark hair (both me and DH have dark hair). We regularly get comments from strangers on how white/pale he is (and exhortations to make sure he wears lots of sunscreen, as if we haven't thought of this ourselves 🙄😂) but I've never thought much of it and I wouldnt worry about it being an issue for him in the future. It sounds like your DC has gorgeous hair and I've loved reading all these positive stories!

I'm 40 and have been bullied my whole life over it
Duracell, does the collar match the cuffs, telling me to wear fake tan as my pale skin is disgusting, openly laughing at my hair, ginge, why's your hair so orange, why don't you colour it, you would look better brunette
I could go on and on and on

When I was born the midwife said "oh she's got red hair, shall I put her back?"

I'm 68 and bullying redheaded children was absolutely a thing when I was at primary school in the 60s. As for it being an 80s/90s phenomenon, my children were at school then and it really wasn't a thing. I have to say though, being ginger was much rarer when I was at school. This might be due to the area that I grew up in just not having many ginger genes floating around. I wonder if people being more able/willing to relocate has changed this.

That's horrible you experienced that 😕 especially the midwife!
When I took DS for his 4 day old prick test the nurse said 'oh dear, looks like we've got a redhead, they're notoriously bad bleeders!' It's probably true but I was a bit peeved at the time!

Yeah bleeding is a thing, the other thing to be aware of is anaesthetic, it can take a lot more - my dentist will do 6 injections sometimes

My gorgeous DS is a red head in a family of brunettes, he was our 2nd child and a total surprise when he came out with red hair.
We have had nothing but compliments and when he was little SO many people touched his hair and told him how gorgeous he was.
He is 11 now and is such a confident gorgeous child, he once expressed that he wished he didn't have red hair but that was only so he could match the rest of us. I always said if he wanted me to I would dye my hair to match his. He hasn't wanted me to yet.
He doesn't get picked on at school, thankfully. We are in Australia and when I was growing up "rangas" were teased. Thankfully I agree with pp, the tides have turned on that.
good luck OP and try not to worry. I bet he's lovely!

What a lovely video, thank you for sharing it

I've really enjoyed all these lovely stories 😊
Here is a photo of his hair I took in the sunlight this morning. Proud to be a carrier of the MC1R gene ♥

Oh my! His hair is beautiful!

Red hair is all the rage now - Ed Sheeran, Harry and many others.

DS is 7 and is incredibly proud of his “beautiful curly blond hair” (it’s absolutely definitely copper/strawberry blond). He absolutely believes it is beautiful and special and he is lucky to have such amazing hair (he isn’t vain, just proud of it like other kids might be proud of their new coat).

Not a hint of bullying so far, although we did have a problem in year one where one of the girls kept trying to touch it in line.

Hopefully given how much he likes it, any future bullying will be water off a duck’s back.

I think the colour itself is beautiful.

That's so lovely that he is proud of his hair ❤

These days red hair is more likely to be an object of envy rather than bullying! I have wished since I was a child that I had red hair, OP. It’s beautiful and unusual.

My child is only three and I have had countless rude comments already.

‘It’s a shame he’s ginger’ being one that lingers, made to me within the first week of his life.

The nice comments vastly outweigh the negative (and we get them weekly!), but I’ve had some awful ones. Including from close friends and family.

I agree it’s generational and younger generations live in a far more diverse world where they are more accepting of difference.

Its like being a celebrity in Southern Europe, they love it!

His hair is so beautiful! What a stunner.

Mine has changed colour massively too and looks so different in different lighting
Age 10 and now

Absolutely gorgeous hair.

Beautiful and those curls!

Oh. I'm in bits 🥹
What a gorgeous, wonderful Dad he is.
😍

It's more a thing at secondary than primary because by then everyone is on SM and learn gingerism is a thing.

The UK is unfortunately very very backward still in terms of its prejudice towards redheads it's slightly better than it used to be but nowhere near what it should be I think it's a far superior colour to blonde