My Multicoloured Family
I will never forget that joyful moment Jacob was born and placed on my chest. I will also never forget the first time someone said he was ginger. It never even crossed my mind. I was just so full of beans that I had done it and finally had my little bundle in my arms.
Of course, the first person to point it out was my sister (she's always struggled with gingers). Then my mum described him as strawberry blonde. Then my best friend said he looked like Ed Sheeran! Best friend? She's not in my life anymore.
So I had about 8 lovely oblivious hours before the comments started. To be honest they haven't stopped. If you have a unique baby then I'm sure you can relate to this.
At first, I thought OK he's ginger am I going to love him less? I did for a few days start to struggle with it but once I realised just how much love for him I have. I understood that nothing would be any different. However, things are different. Instead of the usual baby comments I constantly get the "he's a redhead", " he has his grandad's hair" "he's ginger" "oh he's going to have a temper".
So Michael got the "oh his skin is light " "will he get darker like you?". But this is worse! It's winding me up. Talk about his other features please like his gorgeous face, his cute nose or his crusty cradle cap. Anything....
Is it fair to assume a child's temper because of the colour of their hair? Maybe that is the reason they get angry. Michael gets a right strop on and can have a terrible temper but he gets that from his dad. So perhaps Jacob will be like that too just because that's his personality. Or maybe he will be cool, calm and collected like me. Who knows?
Please don't be like that Katie Hopkins and assume all ginger children are harder to deal with. I was hard to deal with as a child. I hit my mum with a poker (she was asking for it) She thought I would turn out to be a criminal...(there's still time). Was that because I had brown hair?
Michael is already exploring the fact that his family all have different skin colours. How is Jacob going to feel growing up different? To be honest he probably won't even think anything of it because we are such a patchwork family. Unless people make a big deal of it.
Being bullied in school and having my image scrutinised I know I don't want this for my son. I want him To be confident in himself and win over everyone's hearts. I remember the day my mum took on one particular bully and well I never had trouble with him again. I'm glad I'm turning into her!
I'm not afraid to say both my sons are gorgeous no matter the colour of their skin, hair, or eyes. They are mine and I couldn't be prouder. But if you want to talk to me about their hair. Sure go ahead but be careful because if I'm in a bad mood I might just punch your lights out. I'm kidding of course, I might just cause a little bruising. I'm no Anthony Joshua. I might just start to reply, "oh really? I thought it was more of a green colour" Mum in a multicoloured Mann's world.
