Here’s Looking at You First Born

I noticed that both I and my mother both look like our fathers. My mother’s younger sister looks more like my grandmother. As an only child, there was no second born for me to consider. I never knew my father’s parents but my mother was a 5’4 blonde at my age whereas my father was 5’9 and almost entirely Italian. I inherited his height, dark hair, and dark eyes.

As I pondered this idea, I thought of more people who this was true for. When I mentioned it in conversation, a woman who was more scientifically minded than I insisted, “It’s just speculation.” Translation: without verifiable data, speculation is worthless. But isn’t that where science comes from? You observe, you speculate, you test, you analyze, and then you prove or disprove. I don’t have the means to test this theory but an unverified observation is not without merit.

Scientific American noticed the prevalence of the observation and when seeing if it was true I found this article. In terms of evolution, first borns looking like the father is advantageous because women know that’s their kid, men don’t. If the father believes that’s his child, he is much more likely to care for it. It follows a believable train of logic.

According to SA, it’s still unverified. Several studies have found results all over the map. I have a friend who is ¼ black from his mother and those are his dominating features. Patty Hearst’s daughter is the spitting image of her. 

Many people think I look like my mother (whose hair darkened as she got older) until they see pictures of my father. It could be I take after my father because he had the dominant traits. It could be common place for my maternal genetic line for first borns to look like the father. It could just be that’s what people are looking for. One of the studies mentioned in SA said that for the first few days, newborns look like the mother but the new mothers insist the kid looks like the father. 

It makes just as much sense in the crapshoot that is genetics for children to look like either parent. Or to get traits from god knows where. My hair naturally curly but both of my parents, their siblings, and all of my grandparents had straight hair. Going back in the family tree finds only my maternal grandfather’s siblings had curly hair. 

My particular observation wasn’t verified as fact but wasn’t entirely disproven either. In the game of genes, there doesn’t seem to be an easy answer which means people will continue to speculate for a long time.

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