There are two things that Paul really hates when it comes to personal grooming: 1) having his nails trimmed and 2) having his hair cut. Even though Paul is five I still trim his nails while he is asleep. Every once in a while he will cooperate in the daytime. But for the most part it’s just not worth the fuss. If I could give Paul a haircut while he was sleeping, I would. Once I took Paul to a real barber salon thinking that maybe I was the problem. Nope, he didn’t like that either.
Last night Paul had a “hair crisis” unlike any other. Identity crisis might be a more accurate description. Paul’s hair was long. I don’t have a problem with longer hair on boys but Paul’s hair was truly wild. Knowing how much Paul hates having his hair cut I tried just trimming around the ears. It was hard getting both sides even (I stink at cutting hair) and I finally told Paul that we would need to use the electric clippers to even everything out. After a bit of convincing (bribery actually) Paul agreed. The electric clipper initiates a new set of problems because Paul is scared of the buzzing sound and he doesn’t sit still very well. Paul started freaking out and I only got as far as trimming the front and top of his head before we had to take a break. Paul said that he wasn’t going to let me finish trimming the back. (Make a mental picture of “the world’s biggest mullet.”)
After a calming down period I asked Adam to finish the haircut. Everything was going well. The boys were bonding and Paul’s hair looked great when it was done. But when Paul took a look in the mirror he started sobbing. The girls, he said, were not going to like him anymore because he looked too much like a boy! (Paul has a special friend in kindergarten named Martha. Every so often Paul will make a comment to the effect of wanting to look good so that Martha will like him.) We did our best to convince Paul that his friends would still like him and then, like good parents, we changed the subject. We know from experience that no amount of talking can change our stubborn boy’s mind – he has to work it out himself.
This morning the crisis seemed to have been forgotten. Paul got dressed (despite saying the night before that he “would never go to school until his hair was long!”) and after dropping Adam off at the airport we headed to school. As we got in the vicinity of the school Paul brought up his hair again. This time he added being upset because now he was going to look like another boy in his class with a similar hair cut. Again, he said he wasn’t going to school. Thankfully he then followed me to his classroom anyway. I was curious to see what would happen. We were a little late because of having to go to the airport and when Paul arrived the rest of his class was sitting quietly on the carpet. The minute they saw Paul they all excitedly yelled his name and as I walked away I could hear them complimenting the new haircut. Phew! Identity crisis resolved (at least for today).
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I have similar problems cutting Adam’s hair. He squirms and complains and we cannot do the buzzers at all. This winter, I promised to let him grow his hair long. I’ve trimmed around his ears once, but have to resist the urge to cut all over. Good luck!
Wow…I can relate. There is always a lot of bribing & coaxing & threatening & pleading going on when it’s time for haircuts! But so far we haven’t had to deal with trying to impress girls. I stick to using the clippers for most of it; they wiggle & squirm so much, I’m always so nervous with the scissors.
I’m glad it went well. I’m sure Martha still likes to play with him. It was weird because he was cool with the whole haircut thing until we were done and went inside.
Amy- kind of funny. But those same clippers cut Phil’s hair back in the day. We were all too cheap/too poor to get haircuts as students so we all kind of cut one anothers hair. In fact, I think it’s been since 1994 that I’ve paid for a haircut.
Martha must be really special! How stressful for momma-hopefully the crisis is averted permanently!
Tell Paulie that I think he looks handsome no matter what his hair looks like and that he will still always be my number one boyfriend.