When you give your kid an inch…

So, at lunch last weekend, my 8-year-old daughter Naomi said she wanted to cut her hair short. Actually, she said, “I just want to cut my ponytail off.” Now, she’s a spunky girl with a boatload of personality, so pretty much any haircut would look cute on her. I told her we should think about it, and that we didn’t want to do anything drastic since her hair takes forever to grow. She was very persistent and kept saying she wanted to cut it herself. Superman and I kept telling her we didn’t think she should cut her hair herself, but ultimately I told her, “If you want to cut your own hair off, go ahead, but I am not going to fix it for you. If you can’t be patient and wait, then you’ll need to suffer the consequences of however it turns out.” 

Well, you can probably see where this story is going…but just wait! There’s a twist. 

So, we get home a few hours later and after about 15 minutes, our other daughter, Grace, who is 6, comes up to Superman and I with a huge, proud smile on her face, pile of hair in her hands, and exclaims, “Look! I got a haircut!” The ensuing chaos involved me yelling at Naomi for cutting off Grace’s beautiful locks, Grace sobbing when she realized what had just happened, and a lot of laughter from Superman and their brothers. 

The story was that both girls gave each other haircuts (well, hey, may as well make it more fun by exchanging services, right??), and even one of their brothers jumped in for final touches. 

The girls both lucked out in that they have curly hair, so you really couldn’t tell how bad it was once it was washed. It looked hideous when they first did it, but after a shower and some hair product, it actually looked kind of cute. 

We all got a good laugh out of it, and moved on with life.

Oh, but wait…the story doesn’t end there. 

Because this morning, I noticed Grace’s hair looked extra…poofy. I didn’t think much of it until we sat down to do math, and I suddenly realized that one side of her hair was considerably shorter than the other, and the front was cut down near the scalp. 

Then, I glanced over at Naomi. She, too, had her hair cut down to near her scalp halfway back on her head. 

I. was. flabbergasted. I screamed, “What the heck happened to your hair?!?!” Oh, if you had been a fly on the wall, you would have gotten quite a show…

Suddenly, Grace bursts into tears and says she cut it again. AGAIN?!?! WHAT IS THIS OBSESSION WITH CUTTING HAIR????

OH MY FLIPPIN’ GOSH. 

I don’t even know what to say. 

Seriously, folks, I can’t make this stuff up. 

Oh yeah. Did I mention we have family photos coming up in a few weeks? Yup. This one’s gonna go down in the history books.