Bye Bye Shaggy Boys

Do your parenting strategies ever back fire?

Tim always cuts the boys hair. He uses clippers, and it turns out pretty well. Not to mention, it saves us a lot of money. At the beginning of the winter Kellen decided he didn't want any more haircuts. He wanted to grow his hair out to pony tail length. After some discussion, he decided that having his hair combed, like his sister does, wasn't really all the appealing. He also realized that it might be kind of hot during the summer. So, he decided he didn't want a hair cut all winter, but would cut it in April. His younger brother followed suit.

I went along with it, fully confident that they would change their minds, besides the shaggy look is in isn't it? Their hair grew. Nolan's was pretty cute, but Kellen's hair is thick and coarse. It didn't lay right. He'd complain about tangles when brushing it. I'd mention that a haircut would fix that. No effect.

It grew more. It was getting in Nolan's eyes. Kellen was getting sideburns. Still no giving in to the mention of the clippers.

It grew even more. Nolan's hair was in his eyes. Kellen's was down right shaggy. He was a nine year old with sideburns, and when he wore a hat all the hair bushed out around the bottom. The back of his head looked like he had a mullet. I could stand it no more! It at least had to have a trim.

Nolan was happy to have me trim it out of his eyes. You'd thought I was killing Kellen to hear his fit when I trimmed the back and around the ears. Better, but still pretty shaggy.

The turning point was when Kellen went to the beach with my parents. He discovered all that hair was pretty hot, and it was hard to get all of the sand out of it. Since we've been planning a trip to Florida, he decided, begrudgingly, that he better get a haircut before we left. Tim cut both of the boys' hair over the weekend.


What did we do with all that hair? Put it on the garden. We've been told it helps keep the deer away, and if nothing else it is good for the soil.

The boys are now buzzed cut, and it isn't even April. Well pull up roller shades, and let the sunshine in, that means I won, doesn't it?