Does Your Kid Look *Just* Like You?

Beauty Mama, aka, Michele Brown, dives into the uncanny resemblance between her and her daughter, and the importance of finding your own identity when growing up.

Apparently, Julia looks just like me.

We hear it almost everyday. It comes in different ways.

“Do you know you look just like your Mommy?”  A stranger might ask Julia sweetly on the bus.

“Wow. She’s your twin.”  We hear a lot.

“You’re so pretty. Just like your Mommy!” We get this one from sweet grandmas, as well as creepy men on the street.

I feel like I never know the right thing to say. “Thank you,” seems appropriate although feels awkward, especially when someone is simply stating that we look alike–not that we’re attractive. “Thank you,” that by some random genetic activity my daughter got my nose? Am I supposed to feel thankful about this?

Mostly, though, I’m concerned about how this attention makes Julia feel. She tends to stay quiet. Sometimes she’ll act coy and ask “DO I look just like you Mommy?” Am I supposed to take that you-won-the-lottery tone and say “Yes you do sweet girl, you look JUST like your Mommy!” Isn’t she in some nascent, crucial stage of forming her essential self right now? Crap.