My daughter has a mop of red wavy hair. It’s an adorable delight. But there have been some surprises along the way with being the mama to a ginger. If you’ve got a brand new baby ginger human, I’ve got some stuff to share with you from my almost-three-years of experience (I’m clearly an expert now, where’s my certificate?):
- People will want to touch your child’s hair constantly. I never thought strangers would reach out and stroke my child’s hair in Target, but there you go. People are unfortunately not always aware of bodily boundaries! On the “bright” side, this has given my husband and I a chance to slowly but consistently start talking with our daughter about how she has the right to say, “Please don’t touch my hair” or simple, “No thank you, please don’t touch me” to people when they try to touch her without her permission. I imagine as she gets older the attention and unwanted moves will change rather than stop, so I’m chalking this up to a straight opportunity to harp on her bodily autonomy, inappropriate behavior from other people, and consent. (I’ll be honest though, sometimes the checkout ladies at Target get a pass. They adore her.)
- You can’t always tell if your child is simply flushed or if they’re burning in the sun. Her skin’s pink undertone gets very, very pink very, very fast outside when it’s warm, and it’s impossible to tell whether that flush on her cheeks is from all the fun she’s having, or the sun slowly baking her to a crisp! I’ve probably ended some fun activities too early out of concern, only to see that when she cooled off, it was fine, and there was nary a burn to be found. Sorry kid. Still, better safe than sorry when I can’t tell. And speaking of sunburning, you will go through a can of spray sunblock in a single weekend. Why am I not buying stock in sunblock?! I often end up applying it twice in one trip to the park (because see above for not being sure if she’s burning or pinking). And it’s not even like we’re spending all day outside, since the ginger toddler’s peak hours are in the early morning, with long shade/indoor breaks in the afternoon, before the sun stars to set and it’s safe to step foot outside again.
- You get the best Halloween character costumes without having to do much. IE, you can be pretty lazy if you wanna. Think of all the redheaded, amazing characters she can choose to be (or I can choose for her to be, for now): Little Orphan Annie, Ariel, Anne of Green Gables, probably a whole host of other A-named characters because red hair clearly equals an A-name…oh wait, there’s Trixie from the Knuffle Bunny books! Jessie the cowgirl from Toy Story! And Ponyo!
- You might become a little vain about your ginger child’s ginger status and be constantly pleased as punch that your child is that kind of cute. I try to keep it in check, but there are just times when I can’t help but stare googly-eyed at her adorableness. But then, all parents do that, right? I’m giving myself a pass!
- Similar to, say, Volkswagon culture, if you see another parent of a ginger out in the wild, you’re obligated to give the nod at the park. And now that you’ve read this article, you can even go further and have a whole conversation. After all, you’ve got a bunch of things you’re sure to have in common to talk about!
Filva
May 1, 2017 at 9:31 pmHalloween costume ideas for when she is older – Pebbles, Black Widow, Poison Ivy, Merida (the girl from Brave), Raggedy Anne, Dorothy, Strawberry Shortcake (yes – showing my age here), Pippi Longstocking… and if she has a twisted streak, Chucky…
*Ginger Mom Fist-Bump* 🙂
Trina Mays
May 1, 2017 at 10:36 pmYou hit the nail on the head. I have 3 ginger children and I concur with all these sentiments. My boy gingers insisted on wearing hats for a while so strangers wouldnt play with their hair. My girl ginger loved the attention when she was young. Not so much as a teen but she did learn those boundaries. And I chuckled at the “nod in the park” comment. So true.
Megan
May 2, 2017 at 12:12 amI have an adorable little ginger boy (how is he 2 already?!) and I can certainly attest to all of these things. My husband and I were completely baffled by how many comments, gasps, and awes we got on a daily basis from strangers when he was a baby. After 2 years, we’ve finally gotten used to it. I love my little redhead! Redheads are the best!
Tristan
May 2, 2017 at 8:12 pmAs brunette parents we get asked EVERY SINGLE DAY…”where do they get their red hair from!?”
Summer
May 2, 2017 at 8:17 pmAll but the red cheeks & red headed Halloween costumes fit for each of my 3 curly headed children. OMG! The boundaries of touching a child’s hair are ridiculous! Just 20 minutes ago with 2 of my children & grandson who is also curly headed like his daddy in a restaurant… A man got his wives attention and pointed at my grandson as they talked and kept walking. Because of experience I know they were merely talking about how beautiful he and his curls are but still. 😊 Love this article!!!! I didn’t have any red headed children but was as a baby & every other of my sister’s SEVEN children are red headed. LOVE ME SOME GINGERS😍
Joyce Buchanan
May 6, 2017 at 7:27 pmYou left out Madeline!
Ginger
May 10, 2017 at 11:57 pmThis is all so true…I’m a ginger…and my name is actually Ginger…and I’ve got three little red-heads with one on the way(my husband and I both have red hair, so that’s all we make!). Friends often don’t believe me when I say it’s like having three tiny celebrities when I go places until they’ve gone somewhere with us and see it for themselves. But who can blame people for staring–they ARE pretty stinking cute!!
James
July 10, 2017 at 9:12 pmGreetings! An adult ginger here…. I enjoyed the site. When I was child, I too, received all the questions about **where the hair color came from**. This was well in to the teen years. I commented to my mother that I was tired of it, and she commented, “Tell them it was the mail man!”. (Grin) I did and I have to admit, it was good for shock value. Red hair can be tough to have as a young person, but a blessing later.