Individuality is important in a family, but so is efficiency and connectedness. One of the areas that parents of more than one child wrestle with is hair cuts—do we get similar hair cuts for our kids, even identical ones when they are little, or do we shake things up and let individuality emerge from an early age?
It can be so tempting to go with a more uniform family look—especially if you have children of all the same gender or those of similar ages. How simple and efficient it is to line all the boys up and give them the same cut! Or with children of similar hair texture, we might find a cut and style that works well and want to use it for everyone. But, what is the price we are paying to our children’s individuality and self-esteem by giving them a one-size-fits-all hair cut?
I know that my girls—even though they are barely over a year apart in age—really needed their individuality. There was never a time when they wanted the same hair cut and even though they might have swapped and worn each other’s clothes, they needed the uniqueness that having their own hair style and “do” could give them. They didn’t even want to both have pony tails or pig tails at the same time and would make sure that I didn’t do their hair the same way on any given day.
Some children might like to look alike and take some comfort in that, but even if children like it when they are younger, I think they need to be given the opportunity to change and take on their own personality over time. Sure, it might be more complicated, but individuality is important—especially in a big family where the siblings might be compared to each other anyway.
Also: When Are Kids Old Enough to Choose Their Own Haircuts?