I didn’t have to take a brush to my daughter’s hair until she was nearly 2 years old. She simply didn’t have enough to warrant doing so. (This is how her hair looked until she was about 19 months. Sort of.) Currently, her locks don’t grace her shoulders or flow to the middle of her back like her best friend’s, but she couldn’t care less.
Given her genetic make up she likely won’t have luxuriously, thick, sleek locks that blow seductively when windswept like overpaid supermodels. Rather, she will have to make do with thin, wispy hair that struggles to stay put even with the aid of overpriced styling products. But as I mentioned, at 4-years old she is blissfully unaware of this fact… and frankly, I couldn’t be happier.
Here’s why:
Last weekend I babysat my friend’s 10-year-old daughter (and her 6-year-old son) while she and her husband traveled out of state. Emma has a gorgeous mane of blonde hair that she has grown past the middle of her back. It’s soft and shiny… and super high maintenance. I used to braid my hair in college, but had forgotten the time and energy it takes to upkeep long hair. In the amount of time it took for us to get Emma’s hair presentable enough to go out in public on Saturday I could have completed three loads of laundry and cleaned the kitchen… twice.
Did I mention that Emma doesn’t like to have her hair brushed?
Long story short: I skipped the braids and convinced her to settle on a simple ponytail, which stayed in place all of five minutes until she yanked it out (she claimed that she missed touching her hair). She spent the rest of the weekend peering out from under a baseball cap (her brother’s suggestion).
When Emma’s mom returned home Sunday evening we shared a good laugh over the hair-raising experience. She then revealed that she has been trying for months to get Emma to adopt a new hairstyle. Apparently, at one point she even enlisted the help of her hairdresser, but ended up with a teary eyed child clinging on to her locks in the middle of the salon. Strike one.
My pal then tried another tactic. She tried to convince her Rapunzel look-alike that her hair would actually grow faster if she got it trimmed into a neater style. No dice. Emma won’t budge despite her mother’s pleas.
Which leads me to this question for parents whose children are highly protective of their locks: Who calls the shots regarding hairstyles in your family? Do you feel it is your duty as a parent to intervene when you child has chosen a questionable do? Or are you from the school of thought that says let the child go through with his or her choice and learn an important lesson about the consequences of impulsive actions?
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