Red Headed Boys

[swrc00]

DS has strawberry blonde hair. At Christmas my MIL commented on how glad she is DS's hair is lightening up. She made a comment about how red headed boys are usually wimpy and not well liked. I was floored. DS's hair may darken, but both of my grandparents had red hair and three nieces and one nephew have red hair. It is likely that if DS's hair doesn't stay red another one of our future children could be a red head. I mentioned this to a friend of ours who also agreed with MIL. She even said the red hair was okay for girls, just not boys. Seriously, what about a child's personality not their hair color. I am just shocked that people are so stereotypical about red headed children.

Sorry for the rant. I do love DS's hair and will be sad when all the red is gone.

[Krisrich]

What an absolutely ridiculous thing to say! Your DS will be your DS regardless of his hair color. And red hair is great, for girls or boys! Sorry you had to listen to 2 people tell you this nonsense!

[JTsMom]

What ridiculous comments- shame on them! I'm sure your son is adorable and all around great. FWIW, one of the most popular, well-liked guys in my class had red hair.

[lizzywednesday]

Um, no?

What about Olympic snowboarder Shaun White? Snowboarding is a really tough sport!!! (Not only do you need to have balance & coordination, but you also have to take your lumps ... falls are inevitable while you're learning!)

Or, dare I say it, WWE Superstar Sheamus???? (The man is 6'6" and currently the WWE RAW champion. Not that it means much to anybody, but that's pretty impressive considering the freaks on RAW.)

Both are redheads.

I am sure I could name more if I weren't so shocked.

ITA it's an awful thing to say.

(BTW, my sister's pre-labor freakout was that her son would have red hair. She said she'd never met a redhead she liked ... then I reminded her of all the redheads we've known who are really wonderful people.)

[SkyrMommy]

I have taught many red-haired boys over the years & they were fantastic... one of my favorite students had red-hair, he was a crack up & a very good artist!

[TwinFoxes]

People's stupidity will never cease to amaze me. Prince Harry is a redhead. Thomas Jefferson was a redhead. Shaun White... many more.

[crl]

How absurd! My niece and nephew are both red heads. And my nephew is definitely not a wimp. (I could lodge other complaints, lol, but not that one!)
Catherine

[elliput]

:angry-smiley-005::32::angry-smiley-005:

Obviously this has it a chord with me. I am a redhead. DS is a redhead.

- Thomas Jefferson
- George Washington
- Ulysses S. Grant
- Dwight Eisenhower
- Andrew Jackson
- John F. Kennedy
- Winston Churchill
- Napoleon Bonaparte
- Henry VIII
- Galileo
- Christopher Columbus
- Prince Harry
- William Shakespeare
- Mark Twain
- Seth Green
- Ron Howard
- Danny Kaye
- Ralph Fiennes
- James Cagney
- Mark McGuire
- Chuck Norris

Yeah- all whimpy and not well liked.

[mommylamb]

That's an awful thing to say. Honestly, I think it might be rooted in anti-Irish sentiment. In England (where DH is from) red-headed people are sometimes called Gingers (in a derogatory manner), and it comes from an anti-Irish feeling from some Brits in past generations.

[Melanie]

That's awful. Some people just don't think before they open their mouths.

[sariana]

I'm a Harry Potter fan, and people on the HP boards often use the term ginger. I always wondered if it actually was a derogatory term.

Honestly, I did not want my children to have red hair, but ONLY because we live in Southern California, and redheads tend to be more sensitive the the sun (like my sister).

To the OP, I'm sorry your MIL said such a horrible thing. What a nasty display of ignorance.

Teach your DS to be proud of who he is no matter what he looks like.

[elizabethkott]

What an ultra maroon.
One VERY important, non-whimpy male red head that seems to have been forgotten...

JAMIE FRAISER!!!!!
Ok, he's fictional (Outlander series), but he's SO NOT wimpy!!!!!

[MamaMolly]

Liz stole my post!!! :)

I was going to suggest you give MIL the Outlander book for her next big holiday. That will teach her about 'wimpy' redheaded men!

And what a nit-wit BTW.

[swrc00]

You guys are wonderful!!! I just got back from brunch with my red head and hubby and was delighted to see all of your responses. Thanks for putting a smile on my face. You all rock! :cheerleader1:

[swrc00]

I almost forgot I love the idea of giving MIL this book. I will have to do some research on the series.

[BabyMine]

That was uncalled for and rude. Hair color has nothing to do with personality.

M and TT were both born with red hair. My Grandmother was all Irish. M's hair has faded to a dirty blonde. TT had bright red hair at birth. His has faded to a strawberry blonde. I wish at least some of the red would have stayed. The only person that hated it was DH. Everyone else loved it. To say such a hurtful thing about the color of someones hair is boderline prejudicial.

[MontrealMum]

Just adding to the chorus, what an ignorant woman. I'm sure she has lots of other super-intelligent things to say about other groups of people too?

'Cause everyone knows the Vikings were a bunch of wusses.

[amandabea]

How rude! I just asked my DH (now bald) if he had been made fun of as a kid for having strawberry blonde hair and he said some. And also for being named Jack (he hates his name even though I mention the popularity nowadays). He said ot never bothered him -- he was an amateur body builder, so not even slightly wimpy.

[HIU8]

Will some people NEVER learn. That is just beyond rude.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Stupid comment. I wonder if it is a generational thing. She's older, presumably, right? My Dad (in his 60's) was a redhead (all white, looks like Ted Turner now) and admits to some teasing, etc. back in the 50's. Both of my brothers are redheads (one strawberry blond, one has huge fat red curls, both over 6') and they are great, well-loved athletic dudes. The one who is a lawyer and is getting married in two weeks was just over here, being Uncle of the Year! I think our DS2 may very well have red hair!

[ThreeofUs]

Oh, that is such a nasty thing to say. Goodness.

Couldn't be said in our family. Any gathering on both sides looks like a sunset: redheads everywhere.

[happymom]

What an obnoxious, and completely untrue thing to say!

I :heartbeat: red hair. Makes no difference if its a boy or a girl. As a matter of fact, my MIL has bright red hair, and she is so proud of it. She has 8 children and NOT ONE of them got her red hair! Out of her 10 grandchildren, one has red highlights.

We all joke that if any grandchild is actually born with her bright red hair, they will be an automatic favorite to her!

Sorry your MIL said such a rude comment to you!

[ellies mom]

Poo on her. My brother has absolutely beautiful red hair and trust me, he is not a wimp.

[Tondi G]

LMAO! Thats hysterical. I have a red head. Well his hair is not carrot top by any means but he has a beautiful almost copper color to his hair... when we buzz it, it almost looks blonde though. He has DARK brown eyes (like his dad and MIL)... not your typical light eyed red head. I have had so many women say "man, do you know how many women pay to attempt to get a color like that!"

My DS is VERY outgoing and overall very well liked. He is the toughest 4 year old I know. There is no whimpy-ness in this child. I read an article about red heads and heard they actually show to have a higher tolerance to pain than others!

When I was preggo with my first we laughed about the fact that we could possibly end up with a red head. When he was born dark haired we kinda figured all our kids would be dark. When DS2 was born, my ob and my DH both at almost the same time blurted out "wow, I think he has red hair!" we were all pleasantly surprised.

Your MIL is rediculous and needs to learn some tact. What a rude thing to say about her own grandchild! I hope you continue on to have a whole bunch of strong, outgoing, well liked red headed children. She'll find herself stuffing her foot in her mouth!

[TwinFoxes]

I'm a Harry Potter fan, and people on the HP boards often use the term ginger. I always wondered if it actually was a derogatory term.



It's kind of derogatory, but not always. A lot of people just use it to describe redheads...but there's still a lot of classicism in Britain, so I'm sure calling someone Irish a ginger can have tones of derision (not saying everyone in Britain is classicst mind you!) But Prince Harry is a ginger, and remember Ginger Spice? When I lived in London I had an ex who called himself "ginger-beard" because if he didn't shave for a few days he had a red beard.

I thought of another famous, well-loved male redhead... Dale Earnhardt Jr! The most popular NASCAR driver, and I don't think he's considered a wimp at all!

[belovedgandp]

Ugh, I really can't imagine such a ridiculous statement.

As a red head myself with one red headed boy, it's crazy. Yes, he does get a little more attention about his hair. It was really bright and has darkened some as he gets older, but will most definitely remain red for the near future (he's six now).

The normal obnoxious comments involve having tempers and the "where did it come from?" questions; seriously, how is a 3 year old to answer this one? His response was always "my head."

[dcmom2b3]

That's an awful thing to say. Honestly, I think it might be rooted in anti-Irish sentiment. In England (where DH is from) red-headed people are sometimes called Gingers (in a derogatory manner), and it comes from an anti-Irish feeling from some Brits in past generations.

:yeahthat:

[Melaine]

The normal obnoxious comments involve having tempers and the "where did it come from?" questions; seriously, how is a 3 year old to answer this one? His response was always "my head."

That is such a cute response!

OP, I had no idea that people would say anything like that about redheads. It just continues to prove how obnoxious and clueless our world can be! I'm sorry you have to hear such garbage about your DS!

[hellokitty]

What an ignorant thing for your mil to say! I just can't imagine a mature adult thinking in this way.

[ThreeofUs]

The normal obnoxious comments involve having tempers and the "where did it come from?" questions; seriously, how is a 3 year old to answer this one? His response was always "my head."


Our answers were always "Walmart" or "The Milkman", depending on how offended I was. Took people who made such comments a couple of minutes generally to get the second, lol.

[dogmom]

I think you should send her a DVD of all the South Park Ginger Kids episodes. No parent of red headed kids should be miss that episode. As a mother of two red heads I peeded my pants laughing. (Of course only my daughter would fall under the true ginger category, my son tans so he's a daywalker. OMG, I'm giggling just thinking about the episodes.)

http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/911/

Warning: If you aren't familiar with South Park, irreverent doesn't even begin to describe Trey and Matt's sense of humor.

[DrSally]

What an unfounded thing to say. I say that ginger kid's episode on South Park. I did remember thinking that any parent with a red head would find episode interesting