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Redheads know all too well about teasing or even bullying when it comes to having red hair. Well, what if that negative attitude was coming from your own family?
In a Reddit post that has since been removed, a mother started a thread to tell the world about her redhead toddler and her mother-in-law (MIL). It has received 11,000 upvotes and 1,200 comments at the time of writing.
The mother, known only as u/Exotic-Teaching2576, explains she has a one-year-old redhead daughter with curly locks and her husband (the father of the little-one) is a redhead too. Adorable! Well, the woman’s MIL doesn’t think so. That’s right, the MIL’s own son is a redhead.
Apparently, the husband was raised being told his red hair and fair skin were “ugly” which led to a lot of confidence issues. Now his mom is upset that her grand child has inherited the redhead gene; she thinks the baby is unlucky and tried to put a brown wig on the baby. This is absolutely insane because for the MIL’s own son to have red hair, she must have the redhead gene herself. For two parents to have a redhead baby, both parents must carry the gene. Therefore, she is punishing her grandchild for a gene she herself passed down.
In the mother’s own words, this is what the Reddit post said:
“My husband is red haired/ginger and his hair has some soft ring curls. My one year old daughter is also a ginger. I never thought once of a reason why my daughter should feel uncomfortable with her hair color and curls until my MIL made it an issue.”
She goes on to explain that her mother-in-law “hates ginger hair.”
“She always tried to convince my husband his skin is empty and his hair is ugly. That happened since childhood,” wrote the Redditor. “My husband grew up with a lot of self hate which he overcame once his inner circle of friends tried to lift him up and encourage him to feel confident.”
“My MIL seems to do the same thing she did to my husband when she’s around my daughter. She says stuff like how unlucky she [is that she] got that hair, how she’s gonna spend hundreds in her life to dye her hair, how the curls are ugly and not easily tamed, her freckles and all that.”
“My husband has told her multiple times to stop doing that because our daughter will [internalize] all these thoughts and hate her appearance for no reason,” explained the Redditor. “MIL throws tantrums claiming my husband won’t let her have ‘an opinion.’ Every time it happens my husband tries to put a stop to it but it never works.”
Finally, the Redditor appeared to reach a breaking point, when her mother-in-law reportedly “brought a plastic wig to see what [her] daughter would look like with brown hair.”
“That’s where I spoke up and said … you either cut that s*** out or get out.” In response, the mother-in-law reportedly told the Redditor that she “should be grateful she’s looking out for [her] daughter so she’ll avoid being bullied.”
“She threw one of the usual tantrums about being entitled to her opinion and left,” said the mom. “Once she left I told my husband that his mom won’t be allowed around our kid again unless she shuts the f*** up and [stops] trying to force insecurities on my kid. I want my kid to love herself growing up and if her grandma causes her insecurities instead of self love she has no business being around.” She concludes: “My husband said that his mom is indeed being ridiculous but I’m taking it too far suggesting she doesn’t see the kid.”
Readers flooded the comments section offering their support to the Redditor’s challenging situation.
“If she can’t treat both your husband and your child with respect, she can’t visit. It’s that simple,” offered u/Panaccolade. “What she’s saying is NOT opinion. It’s just flat-out bullying, and no one should be giving it any credence at all.”
Now we know that red hair is beautiful, and this little girl will grow up to be a beautiful redhead like the rest of us, but we’re curious: what would you do if your family member acted this way?
Rock it like a Redhead!
Photo Credit: Getty
