So my wife and I let our 8yo go to school today with his hair spiked out in the front and with the spikes spray painted green and blue. (I'd attach a jpeg, but that seems to be beyond my abilities)

He thought it was brilliant. What do you think? Good call or no? I'm thinking the holiday gift giving season is going to be a whole lot more interesting this year.

I say AWESOME! Better to let them do it now, when you have some influence/control, rather than fight it, and they rebel later when you have less control... It will be one of the most excellent photographically documented memories of his childhood... forever in a yearbook and laughed about at family gatherings. And the potential for teen angst and embarrassment with girlfriends... Epic.

TheBoy has randomly mentioned mohawks (usually after seeing one) and I have not pushed, just agreeing that it's funny hair, or that some people like to do that with their hair... just innocent "it's ok" type statements, never really asking if he WANTS one, just if he LIKES it... while HisMother always looks at me and says no very sternly with her best motherly but not deathly serious stink eye... And THIS has the potential of being a fight... because when he asks FOR REAL if he can have a mohawk(and I ALWAYS tell her this)...

I will drop everything, double and triple check that he is serious, and if he is... I'll hug him BIG with proud Dad arms, and bust out the trimmers! (and of course the camera for before and after photos) He's only young once, his hair grows super fast now, and who cares if a lil' kid has a mohawk?!



As for posting a photo... you have to host it somewhere 'offsite' like Photobucket or flickr and then you can post the link... I generally use PB for my images.

Thanks for the tip on the photo, Nik. Forgot it has to be hosted outside.

As for the hair...fortunately my wife and I were in agreement. Or at least she seemed mildly entertained by it all and indulged us.

Things got interesting yesterday afternoon. My parents are in our area and frequently pick the boy up from school for us.

When she arrived back at her house, which is where I work, I asked if she liked his hair. I got a non-commital grunt. When I asked if he had informed her it was picture day, I got a very curt, "YES!" That was as far as the conversation progressed.

I can tell that grandma is having a challenge imagining that portrait sitting on her mantle for the next year to come. Ah well.

Classic! I sincerely hope I never cross THAT line where I have forgotten what it is to be kid...

I mean, I know I did some stoopit stuff, and some unsafe things (that I was never told were really unsafe by my parents... ie skateboarding without a helmet) that I hope to keep my son from doing, and more importantly hope that I can teach him to realize what is stupid and/or unsafe... But come on Grandma! If you can't laugh at with your own family, then what ever will you talk about at Thanksgiving dinner?

I'm with the Concretin. Have fun with it. Who cares? Demonize this kind of stuff and you empower it. I think it's an awesome way to cut of some avenues of rebellion -- and probably to lessen the need to rebel in the first place. There are some things that grandparents just don't get. We should all try to remember that in 20 years or so.

Our boys, before teen years, always took pride in having buzz cuts -- this is unusual in a hippy town like Austin and its own counter counter culture move. Plus it was super easy to take care of.

My oldest gave up on the buzz a couple years ago, and not prefers to have "flo." This is somehow related to lacrosse in a way I don't fully understand. He was really resistant to getting his hair cut until I found a man-spa throwback barbershop that does hot towel treatments and straight razor shaves and serves the Old Man a beer. These are now bonding trips that we really love.