You may have been told you have your grandpa's eyes. Kids often look a bit like their family. They do not look exactly like any one of them. Kids with the same parents do not always look alike. Identical twins look very similar to each other.

Have a look at a family photo. Looks such as eye color can run in a family. Here is a surprise. Parents with blue eyes can have a child with brown eyes. It is not common, but it happens.

Not every look comes from family. Some traits come from the way a person lives. These are called acquired traits. Where and how a child grows up helps shape who the child is. Home and school are two such places.

Height is a good example. How tall a person grows depends on family. It also depends on what they eat. And it depends on how healthy they are. What a person eats can change how they grow. A child who eats well and stays active is likely to grow taller than a child with a poor diet.

Many families are made in other ways. Adoption is one of them. Some kids join a family by adoption. An adopted kid becomes a full member of that family for good. The kid has the same legal rights as a kid born into it.

A blended family is also called a stepfamily. It forms when two people make a life together with their children. Think of your own family. Why do kids look like it? Family gives a person some looks. Living gives a person others.

Words to know

• traits: features
• acquired: gained by living
• identical: very much alike
• adoption: joining a family