I Got You, Babe – Mom, tot learn to love freckles

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/05/2012 (5156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Freckles. Freckles were quite a bone of contention with me when I was growing up.

I have tons of freckles. On my face I have them across the bridge of my nose. Then I have freckles on my arms, legs, back — you name it, I have freckles.

My mother always called them “beauty marks,” but I really didn’t buy that.

There was a time I wished to be completely freckle free. Then I reached an age and a level of enlightenment that my freckles were beautiful and part of what made me a unique person. I grew to like most of them and then not care about the rest.

And then I met the better half. He’s even more freckled than I am, so I knew any children we would have down the road would indeed have freckles.

So, a few years passed and along came the monkey with not-a-one. She was perfectly fair and blue-eyed. I was stumped at how a child of Mr. and Mrs. Freckle-face could be freckle-free.

I did some research on the subject. Turns out most babies are not born freckly. Freckles are caused by genetic disposition and sun exposure.

So, as a mother, and a previous hard-core Canadian Cancer Society volunteer, I know that any sun exposure to the skin will most likely cause damage.

Last summer when the monkey was three-years-old, she got a total of four freckles all over her body. I was pretty proud of my habit of slathering all of us with sunscreen where ever we went.

This year I haven’t even really got the sunscreen out that much and the monkey already has a little group of cute little freckles on either side of her nose, just like yours truly.

If anyone ever doubted that she was my child, they need to look no further that our matching freckles.

The mother in me looks at these freckles as “shoulda’s” — you know, “I shoulda put sunscreen on her on that cloudy day” or “I shoulda reapplied the sunscreen sooner. I shoulda…”

The sensible me knows that, yes, I will continue to try my best to protect my daughter’s skin from the sun’s harmful rays, but because of the mix of my genes and her father’s, she is a kid who will get freckles.

And that’s OK with me. I like my freckles. They are part of what make me, me.

I would like my daughter to feel the same about her freckles.

So we celebrate each new one with a kiss and we look in the mirror to see how we are even more beautiful and unique with our freckles.

Kyla Henderson is a local freelance journalist, business owner and mommy. Her column runs every week in the Community News.

» kyla@lilbitbaby.ca