Can kids tell if their parents are attractive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid noted I was the second to least fat mom in her girl scout troop! She had all the moms ordered in size in her mind!

My kid also routinely tells me to dress nice for certain school events.

And she will often ask me why I look good (if I happen to look good) or bad (if i happen to look worse than normal)

None of this offends me. I mean, it's a bit weird that she had the moms from our Girl Scout troop sized up but it's just how kids observe their world.

My daughter started noticing in MS. If I ask her if she thinks someone is "pretty" she has one of several answers:
- 'yes'
- 'straw blonde botox mom' - we're at a fancy private school so there's lots of plastic surgery that's noticeable
- 'she just looks like a mom' - most women fall into this one (including me)
- 'she doesn't take care if herself'

Sorry, why are you asking her this so often that you know her standard responses??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They know. My elementary aged kid told me I'm fat.

Fat is not unattractive. For some reason on this board people seem to think a fat person is automatically not good looking. They equate the two.

Because healthy is attractive, so fat, by definition is unattractive.

Skinny people can be wildly unhealthy.

The topic is attractiveness. Not whether kids think their parents are healthy.

[Anonymous]

My mom always had an usually large amount of facial hair. It’s been there as long as I can remember. It was embarrassing as a kid, and as an adult, it’s still unsightly.

[Anonymous]

I think kids can tell, especially compared to their friends’ parents. My mom was already a good 10/12 years older than moms of my most of my peers. Then she had an outdated hairstyle, wore frumpy clothes and didn’t take care of her skin or body (lots of upper lip hair, didn’t shave her pits regularly). My dad was also older, but outside of his dated clothing I knew he was an average/above average looking man.

[Anonymous]

My DD noticed from young age but not DS. I don’t quite agree with DD’s taste but we agree about not liking lip fillers …

I tend to think most people who are healthy and friendly are attractive in some way. DD more influenced by social media trends such as fake eye lashes and nails

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They know. My elementary aged kid told me I'm fat.

Fat is not unattractive. For some reason on this board people seem to think a fat person is automatically not good looking. They equate the two.

This. My 13 year old knows I'm severely overweight (size 20) but says she's jealous of how pretty I am (working on the unhealthiness of that, yes).

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

Depends on the age of the kid

Now that my kids are in MS, they know that they have attractive parents

It's honestly not that hard with Dads: don't go bald, stay fit, and don't spend all weekend in joggers & a hoodie

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom always had an usually large amount of facial hair. It’s been there as long as I can remember. It was embarrassing as a kid, and as an adult, it’s still unsightly.

Same with my mom. I get it too, and I pluck weekly.

[Anonymous]

I think so. I had a really handsome Dad and their friends and relatives constantly talked about it when I was a kid (like women telling my mom "I'm going to steal your husband!). I definitely thought of him as handsome and graceful. My mom looked more normal to me (and was a normal, sort of chubby, body size) and so I can't tell with her.

[Anonymous]

My son is a teen and this never really came up, but he did note many times that DH and I look/are younger than other parents, which is true (we had him in our late 20s).

[Anonymous]

Yeah I think in late ES, they know. They have no problem letting me know my nose is big, I have wrinkles, etc. p

[Anonymous]

They pick up on cues from the world, and how other people treat their parents.

I always knew (since <5) that my oldest sister was beautiful. And I knew I didn't have her features so I would not be considered beautiful. Societal standards are not even overt, but we all learn them very young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They know. My elementary aged kid told me I'm fat.

Fat is not unattractive. For some reason on this board people seem to think a fat person is automatically not good looking. They equate the two.

Because healthy is attractive, so fat, by definition is unattractive.

Skinny people can be wildly unhealthy.

And unattractive too. We have a saying in Russian- a skinny cow is still not an antelope.

[Anonymous]

There are studies that have shown infants distinguishing and preferring “beautiful” caregivers. Of course your kids know.