(no subject)

[rivka]

Alex cut her hair. Again. I am completely disgusted with her. The last thing I had time for today was an emergency salon appointment.

I don't think today was the first time, either. There was a section near the front that I had noticed a while ago was suspiciously short. She denied cutting it. (This time our nanny caught her.)

She chose a new style which is quite pretty, and I confess that I am secretly delighted that I won't have to try to wrestle her hair into a ballet bun anymore, because I sucked at it. And her hair was difficult to care for because it's so fine. But for God's sake I have frequently offered to take her to the damn salon if she wants her hair cut. It is completely ridiculous of her to chew at it with scissors.



I wish there were a way to keep people from fussing over how cute she looks, because I don't want her to get a lot of positive attention for misbehaving. But of course there isn't a way.

Comments

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

ARGH. I'm so sorry. She does look slightly sheepish, perhaps, in the first picture..... (And she looks cute, but I know that doesn't help.)

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

I have one of those "clearly not a parent" questions, and it's one that doesn't need, require, or demand an answer: why does Alex's misbehavior result in an emergency salon appointment on a day you clearly don't have time for one? Is it because the misbehavior would draw even more "isn't that cute?/you're so precocious" attention from people seeing the mess her self-cut made of her hair?

[charlottezweb.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Other than a worry about her cutting herself w/the scissors, what bothers you about it? I know families draw the line of bodily autonomy in different places, but I was just wondering?

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I think my parents would have given me a crew cut! I always got home haircuts as a kid, and anything with the clippers is very easy to deliver. (As are the ponytail-and-chop class of haircuts, which look about as cute as what she's got in the photos and take no salon trip and negligible time.)

[marici.livejournal.com]

You were very upset she cut her hair the first time, right? If she's repeating it, seems like she's trading positive attention for greater amounts of negative attention. If there's a standard penalty for misbehavior, maybe use that to enforce the ordinariness of hair-cutting? Also, what everyone up there has been saying. As long as she's not endangering herself, her failure to plan is not your emergency.

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

She is absolutely lovely. And growing up *so* fast!

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

I have a suspiciously short section near the front of my hair, but it's because that section just doesn't grow! It's frustrating now that I've grown all my hair out, but I never noticed it when I was a kid because I always had bangs, and it grows to about chin-length.

[shandra.livejournal.com]

That development of impulse control curve can be a total pain in the rear.

I remember being older than Alex and carving my name into a dresser with a pin and knowing it was bad but still carving, carving...

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

Sadly, the solution might be to reduce the cuteness of her hair. Let her have a perfectly acceptable but very utilitarian 'do for a few months. Don't style (har har har) it as punishment, but as an orderly version of what she's doing -- a non-professional haircut.

[suzilem.livejournal.com]

My daughter did the chop the night before her first day in kindergarten. I suspect that her behavior was stress-related that time.

[moobabe.livejournal.com]

Hannah had REALLY long hair when she was Alex's age, and I lived in perpetual fear that she was going to cut off a chunk of her hair. It was kind of a relief when we got her hair cut in a tiny little bob.

Alex does look adorable, but I'd be glad to call her up and say, "Wow, your mom posted a picture of your new haircut and it looks AWFUL!" ;)

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

It's a shame Kenny Loggins can't help (http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/12/year-kenny-loggins-ruined-christmas.html).

(No, really, this isn't just a *random* link. See, if she ran into the Myth Of Kenny Loggins during a hair cutting escapade, she'd probably be suitably traumatized to avoid it in the future.)

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

The two times my son has had his hair cut, he's started the job himself. Both times, he knew perfectly well that all he had to do was ask and we'd get him a haircut. I got the impression that it was his way of maintaining control and making it fully his decision. Or possibly his way of making the decision in such a way that he couldn't change his mind.

(And the second time he did it was the day after Christmas. Must be something about the season.)

[thette.livejournal.com]

I remember when I cut my own hair (and eyebrows, unfortunately). I was bored, there was a scissor, and I didn't think much further. I think I was nine at the time...

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

How about, if she cuts it again, she has to live with it a while.

Of course, that means you do, too.

The new cut is, of course, simply adorable.

[treadpath.livejournal.com]

Tamsin has occasionally cut her own hair with scissors, but I draw the line at her cutting her clothes. Hair grows back, but I'm not going to pay for nice clothes that she's just going to cut up. That's when I confiscate her scissors and she's either not allowed to use them at all or only under supervision (depending on how egregiously she violated the 'no-cutting-your-clothes rule"). We only had to confiscate the scissors a couple times before she stopped cutting clothes. I also instituted a brief moratorium on buying or making any new clothes, on the basis that I didn't feel I could trust her to take care of them. (A "But I caaaaan..." "You have to SHOW me you can." conversation then ensued...)

Do you think confiscating Alex's scissors would work? With Tamsin, she's at a stage where she is asserting her "big-kid-ness," which seems to be why the taking away scissor privilege works.

[panacea1.livejournal.com]

I was a lot older than Alex (but still pre-teen) when I began an attempt to shave my head. (It felt really cool, too.)

It wasn't discovered until some months later.

It took more than twenty years for me to get around to explaining to my mom /why/ when we'd gone to get my hair cut before going off to girl scout camp that summer the stylist had Not Said Anything and done the back very, very short.

[ailbhe]

It is very beautiful.