My six-year-old cut her hair this morning because "it was blinding me!!!" The hair on the top right portion of her scalp is now of varying lengths, from "shaved" to about an inch.

I asked her why she didn't just brush it instead, and she yelled, "I HATE brushing my hair!!" My husband started to chuckle. This made me chuckle. DD did not chuckle. She looked angry. I stroked what was left of her hair and told her that I loved her. As I left the room, I heard DH saying that perhaps she could "try a short haircut; would you like that?" She did not like that. DH ventured that maybe we could "even it out."

I thought that, no, that option would result in a punk-rocker-skinhead look. This is fine if you're old enough to pay for your own haircut, but the style would be somehow incongruous, I think, on a six-year-old girl who favors Hello Kitty shirts.

I didn't verbalize these thoughts, though. DD had already displayed that "OhNo-I-am-realizing-that-I-just-made-a-major-mistake" look that can foretell a major breakdown if things are handled the wrong way. We didn't need (more) tears at that moment.

And yet..."Hello Kitty goes skinhead." That I would like to see. I'm envisioning a bald kitty with manky torn ribbon hanging off her ear, and a liter bottle of hard cider clutched at her side. Plus a cigarette dangling from her mouth (with a touch of ash on the whiskers) for bad measure.

!!!

Val