Genetics.

[castmember19]

I know this seems like a weird question, but over the course of the past few months I've run into many families that look really opposite a lot of the time and it's just fascinating to me.

For example, my DBF's family... both parents are brown haired, one is brown eyed and one is blue eyed. Their oldest has brown hair and brown eyes. The next (DBF) was blonde, blue eyed. Their daughter has the reddest hair you've ever seen, blue eyes. The other kids are all blonde and blue eyed.

Another example, my mentor teacher is filipino and her husband was white, one very dark and one very light. Their oldest came out light, blonde, blue eyed, the middle came out exactly like the mother, dark everywhere, and the baby came out like the first. My mentor teacher tells me that people often think she is babysitting.

Today at work I saw another similar family. Dark mom, very pale and very blonde dad. Oldest child looked just like mom- The two toddlers were blonde, blonde, blonde and pale.

I am just fascinated by how genetics work and families who look so different. It's wonderful! In my own family, we all look alike, but I do know one aunt who had green eyes. The family doesn't have a clue where they came from.

So, any cool genetic patterns in your family or a family you know? I know this seems like a weird topic, but I just love seeing how genetics work. I'm too young (in my own opinion) to be getting married or having kids, but I can't help but imagine what my own children would look like if I married DBF, seeing as we look very different. Silly, I know.

 

[Goofyluver]

My father is Mexican and is very dark-skinned, with black hair and black eyes. He is 5'4".

My mother is white, with a very light complexion, light brown eyes and red hair. She is 5'0".

I have dark hair, black eyes and her light skin. I'm 4'11".

My middle brother has dark hair, dark eyes and light skin but is almost 6' tall.

The youngest brother is as dark as my dad.

We were traveling through an airport without my father when I was younger and someone asked my mom where she adopted my youngest brother from. When he was in high school, my mother was a mental health counselor at his school and none of his friends believed that was his mother.

 

[s____!]

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[si-am]

My mom and dad both have brown hair. My mom has green eyes, and my dad has light hazel eyes.

I have medium blonde hair and dark brown eyes (almost black.) My brother has light blonde hair and light blue eyes. Very strange!

 

[Aisling]

My husband is Filipino with olive skin, dark brown eyes and black hair. I'm a pale skin, green-eyed blonde.

Son #1 olive skin, light brown hair, light brown eyes.
Son #2 pale skin, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes.

Son #1 is engaged to an Italian girl with olive skin, dark eyes and hair like her father. Her mother is a green-eyed redhead. I can't wait to see what genetics gives their children. Since both her mother and I have planted the green-eyed recessive gene in them both, I'm hoping for a green-eyed mini-me!

I love this stuff and will enjoy reading about the genetics combos here!

 

[HelenePA]

Both my girls have dirty blond hair and blue eyes.. I have dark brown hair green eyes my dh has very very dark brown hair and brown eyes the boys look totally different both have brown eyes but one had dirty blonde hair and the other brown hair.. I have been asked if the first boy was my only "real" child or if I was sure they were all from the same man... Yes I'm sure they are all my "real" children and they are all with the same man. Yes I'm very sure I still have no idea where the blue eyes have come from... none of their grandparents or great grand parents have blue eyes...

 

[Aisling]

I still have no idea where the blue eyes have come from... none of their grandparents or great grand parents have blue eyes...

This is what I love, the surprise when the long ago genes come out to play! You and your DH have blue eyed grands somewhere in the past! That's the only way for your children to have blue eyes, that you both have to have given them the gene, since it's recessive. Cool, isn't it?


Just wanted to add that hair color gene doesn't follow the Mendl rule, so even if the blonde gene is only present in one parent's line, the offspring can still have blonde hair.

 

[castmember19]

Just wanted to add that hair color gene doesn't follow the Mendl rule, so even if the blonde gene is only present in one parent's line, the offspring can still have blonde hair.

That's interesting! I never imagined myself with blonde kids. Like I said, in my family, we all look alike- brown hair, brown eyes. DBF has blonde, brown, and red hair in his genes. Our kids could come out with any of the above if the hair gene doesn't follow the rule.

I still wonder where his sisters red hair came from. She's the only redhead in that family. I think they said an aunt somewhere has red hair also.

 

[rie'smom]

My daughter's birth dad is Samoan with olive skin and straight black hair while her birth mother is extremely fair with curly red hair. Our daughter has olive skin with curly brown hair that has red highlights.

 

[southern_redhead]

My parents both have brown hair, dad has blue eyes and my mom's are green. His parents were both brown haired and blue eyed, my mom's mother had black hair and green eyes, her father had white blond hair and blue eyes. I have.....auburn hair and hazel eyes. LOL The funny thing is that we have some distant cousins that ALL have red hair. I used to joke that clearly one of them gave me up and my parents adopted me

My husband's hair is a brown hair with a red tint and he has blue eyes. Our boys have brownish/reddish blond hair just like DH did as a boy and blue eyes, the youngest ones face looks identical to mine when I was his age but both boys favor me more than DH. Our daughter has blue eyes but her hair is EXACTLY the same shade of auburn as mine, of the three she has more my husband's face and eye shape. It is odd to see two peoples looks blended in their children's faces.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

My daughter's father and I both have really dark brown hair, brown eyes and olive skin. While she got the brown eyes and skin color she somehow ended up with dirty blond hair.

I have a cousin who is half black half white (looks full black). She had four children with a white man; the two boys ended up with blond curly hair and blue eyes, one daughter looks full black and the other daughter has gold eyes, hair and skin.

 

[golfgal]

Any combination of 2 kids in our family and they really don't look related but you put the three of them together and you can see that they are. DS16 looks more like a couple of his cousins then he does his siblings. All of the grandkids on DH's side have this notch in their ear, that's kind of cool.

They do a genetics unit on AP Biology here and our twins were in that class. The class had a lot of fun with that this year because of the twins. Our twins are boy/girl, so fraternal, but they still had fun seeing how 'alike' they really are, genetically at least.

Some funny little things that are genetic like being able to roll your tongue inward (the two sides rolling to the middle) are fun to try with families.

My oldest has my Dad's legs (which makes it hard for Grandpa to walk now ). They are the same skinny ankled, hairy, hairy shaped legs. It's interesting to see that.

 

[PigletsPal2]

My three sisters are all short (5'-5'1"), I'm tall(-ish 5'6"); they were all blue-eyed blondes, I was born with very dark brown hair (lots of it - they were practically bald), and I've always had brown eyes. My sisters inheirited my German/English genes, I got the Spanish/Mediterranean genes. It all makes for interesting discussion when the subject of genetics comes up.

Queen Colleen

 

[apirateslifeforme]

My fiance, his older brother, and his younger sister look NOTHING alike. The brother has stick-straight, almost black hair (starting to turn grey, though ) and brown eyes. My fiance has medium brown hair that looks dark blonde in the sun; it starts off straight, but curls at the ends, and he's got blue eyes. The sister...she jokes that she must have been adopted. Her hair is naturally spirally curly and blonde, and she has green eyes.

Looking at photos of their parents when they were younger, the sister definitely looks like the mother (except for the curly blonde hair - nobody can figure out where that came from, as neither parent nor any of the grandparents were curly blondes). The two brothers resemble their father somewhat, but it's not really obvious.

 

[rszdtrvl]

I am 5'4, straight medium brown hair and eyes.

DH is 6'3, dark brown hair that curls if it gets long and brown eyes.

DS is 5'7, light brown hair, and hazel eyes. His hair is CURLY! Think Screech on Saved by the Bell curly!

FIL has curly hair, as does an uncle of mine.

 

[Harley Quinn]

My Mum has very very curly auburn hair and brown eyes, My dad has stick straight brown hair and blue eyes. My Sister has Hazel eyes and curlyish reddish/brown.

I am a blue eyed blonde with curls. My sons father was also a blue eyed blonde.

My son has bright red hair and grey eyes.

My DBF has olive skin brown hair and hazel eyes. It would be interesting to know what colouring our children would have.

My cousin a blue eyed blonde's partner is Egyptian dark hair and eyes.

One of their daughters has pale skin, blue eyes and blonde hair their other daughter has olive skin dark brown hair and eyes that are so dark they are almost black.

 

[MIGrandma]

Our DD has blond hair and hazel eyes, her DH has brown hair and brown eyes. Their DS has brown hair and brown eyes. Their DD has red hair and hazel eyes. They had no idea where the red hair came from, until I told them my grandmother had red hair. It's funny how things like that can skip a generation or two and then show up though.

 

[Rora]

My family isn't too exciting, but here it goes:

My dad has black hair and he is really tan. He's a big guy (tall and "big boned") and is about 6'2". He played football professionally as an offensive lineman, if that gives you any inclination of his body type. He has black eyes, too.

My mom is about 5'5", with strawberry blonde now brown hair with green eyes. She has a really slim build.

I came out to be 5'10", relatively skinny, super fair skinned, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Weird.

Everyone in my family is has straight hair. My cousins and I all look pretty similar.

 

[mom2boys77]

I have dark hair and dark eyes, my husband has the same. Oldest ds has dark hair and eyes, youngest ds has light brown hair and green eyes. Something different with my boys also is they are both left handed and my dh and I are both right handed. My husband has black hair but when his beard hair grows a little bit, it's red.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

How about my twins...

My daughter is blonde with blue eyes. (neither my husband nor I have either color eyes/hair)

My son is brunette and brown eyed