When I was about 5 years old, and in my first year of school, my Father decided to cut off my long, beautiful hair because I gave my Mother such a hard time every morning when she brushed it out and put it into plaits, or pigtails. He felt that it was unfair to my Mother to put her through this every day, and so he took the kitchen scissors, and cut off each of my pigtails. Then he "straightened" the ends off into a basic "bob" and told me that I could brush my own hair in the mornings now!
Neither my Mother nor I have ever forgotten this episode - traumatic as it was to both of us, and so I can sympathise with my daughter, who arrived at her daughter's kindergarten yesterday to find that a friendof Sophie's had cut off the whole of one side of her hair - down to 2 inches long. After the initial shock and horror at this assault upon her child, my daughter whisked Sophie to her hairdresser and asked her to salvage what she could of her daughter's hair. The end result, from the pictures I have seen on the computer, are quite beautiful, but it does not lessen the feeling Andrea and Chris must have of being violated by the actions of this 6 year-old child upon their daughter.
The lessons our children learn as they grow up and move out into the world, are hard enough. As parents, we try so hard to protect each of our children from the hard knocks and disappointments to which they will be exposed, and really nothing prepares us for this kind of event. Luckily, Sophie is resilient and will bounce back, better than ever, and just as beautiful, both inside and out. Her parents, however, will not forget kindergarten in April of 2009.
