To wonder at genetics

[TwittleBee]

Does anyone else wonder where you or another family member got their genetics?

I sometimes wonder about our son; where did he get his skin tone, hair and eye colour.

He is the only one of us to have straight hair with brown eyes and olive skin. He is almost all one colour, sort of this dark gold.

Meanwhile the rest of us are all curly haired, green/blue eyes with freckles with pale skin (including extended family on both sides)

The one thing my son and I do share is our eyes, we both have epicanthal folds and I always wonder where we got those as no one in my family has them.

Interestingly, my eldest has green eyes and both DH and I have blue. It puzzled me for years as it should be more or less impossible. Eventually I discovered that my eyes are not pure blue! I have flecks of a hazel colour which you can only see when my pupils are constricted!

That small difference is what has been passed on to her....

I've attached pics

I find genetics fascinating. I find it intriguing especially when I meet people with one black parent, and one redhead-the redhead genes are so strong! Epicanthal eye folds are quite common in Europeans in certain areas. My son when he’s slightly tanned has the same colour hair and face -I think it’s lovely!

Yes I do. I have 2 mixed race DC, and one is the image of his father and would pass for being fully asian (indian) whereas DD has blue eyes and much paler skin. It’s so odd how it works, but so interesting.

Such beautiful green eyes!!

My youngest daughter does not look Caucasian, although my husband and I both are. Deeply tanned, dark brown eyes and Asian appearance.

I'm flummoxed. Even my mother asked me if I was sure DH was the father

My eldest DD is very blonde with very fair skin and blue eyes. DH and I are have dark hair, skin that tans easily and brown eyes. No one in either family has blue eyes going back generations.

GCSE biology lessons on eye colour genes are clearly rubbish.

Beautiful eyes! Yes, see it’s amazing how that tiny fleck has seemingly created child’s eye colour! I love to think how these subtle patterns can grow

My Dad asked this to my mum about me because of how my eyes make me look so different to my family. And then my husband joked bout our baby getting swapped in NICU (which does freak me out a little!)

That’s where my fascination started I think, I remember doing those eye charts 😂

Yes! And then how will those genes then potentially appear if they go on to have children too!

My mum’s side is Irish and my dad’s side is Scottish but I did read how the fold can appear in Irish genes! I never knew my grandad’s family so maybe came from that side?

I work in a School, we have two lovely siblings here whose parents are (mum) very English rose type - fair skin, dark blonde hair - and dad who is half Indian, quite dark skin, black hair. One child has tanned looking skin and dark hair, like dad, the other has the palest, whitest skin with freckles and flaming red hair. You would never think they were siblings.

Oh yes. Dad's family all dark, Mediterranean looking, handsome... mums family all the women beautiful, attractive and tall. Well I'm tall. The men on mum's side.... skinny legs, fat tums, bad skin, big nose, bald, pale.... guess what genes I got.

Dad's family think El Divo. Mums think Benny from LA Law (seriously on both accounts). Fuck!

I have blue eyes and DH green, and of our three DC one has blue eyes, one green, and I the third has eyes like dark chocolate. With blond hair. GCSE biology told me that isn't possible. 🤔🤔🤔😂😂😂
I think my husband must have had an affair.

😂😂😂😂

My personal fascination is other random genes, such as taste preference. Mainly because I have a relative with a child who only likes to eat his father’s favourite (and only) foods despite never having met him let alone eaten with him. Food tastes that are in every way different from his mum’s and siblings.
I’d not thought of these characteristics being genetic, but it’s now interesting to ponder where many things might be less random/individual but part of our genetic history.

I'm a red head with the typical pale freckled skin and pale grey eyes. That's no big surprise as I've got Scottish, Irish and Welsh ancestry. My sister on the other hand looks very much like me features wise but has olive skin, almost black hair and dark brown eyes. It's almost like we're the same person but created in different colour schemes! Also, rather strangely, when we were young we both looked very much like our Mum, but now everyone comments on how much like Dad we both look! 😂

I have 2 DDs, one is a very pale freckly red head with light blue eyes. The other has olive skin, brown hair and brown eyes.

My DD and I are like mirror images; same face/nose/mouth shape - but one dark hair/brown eyes/skin tone other light hair/blue eyes/pale. She has her dad's feet though!

My parents are both white Irish. Mum fair complexion, dad a bit darker. I’m fairly dark haired and skinned, with almond shaped eyes, and when I’ve been on holiday people have assumed I’m Egyptian, Turkish or Spanish and surprised when I’ve spoken in my accent.

We have an odd trait in my family from my nanny when we are tired myself and two of my cousins get a slightly raised slightly reddish patch on the top of our cheek bone just under the eye on the right side like a hive rash

Weirdly neither my mum or my aunt has this

my ds little finger in his left hand is a little bent like it’s been broken and not set properly his dad and his granny has it

I am the image of my dads sister I look far more like her than her own daughters

My husband has white skin and fair hair, yet his dad and brother are both black / mixed race. Genetically, it makes sense (mixed race dad, white mum), but it's fairly unusual. His hair grows into afro curls, but it's ginger. When you see them all together the family resemblence is obvious, but on his own you would just assume my husband is white. His brother is clearly mixed race, albeit very light-skinned.

My kids are blonde with blue eyes. Comes from their dad, from his mum, her mum, etc, going back through the generations. The other parent in every case had variations on dark hair and dark eyes. Doesn't matter, the blonde wins out!

All of my children are blue eyed and blond and fair skinned. I have brown eyes and black hair. My mother was red haired and green eyed

My husband gets this exact hive like bump rash under his right eye when tired… how odd. Don’t have heritage from Wales do you? Or Birmingham?

i always knew my red hair was a recessive gene so unlikely to show up in a child, so thick-dark-brown hair, pale skinned dd1 was no surprise. Dd2 with fine blonde hair and skin that goes genuinely golden in sun is like a (lovely) alien interloper.