Griffin didn’t get his first haircut until he was almost two years old. Amos still hasn’t had one. I get questions daily about when I plan to cut his hair. My answer is always the same.
I don’t.
I only caved with Griffin because it was beginning to obstruct his vision.
My babies don’t have luscious locks or golden curls. Griffin’s hair has a reddish sheen but that’s about it. I don’t have any attachment to a certain look and while I do have hippie-tendencies, there is no alternative lifestyle strategy at play in my decision to leave their hair long.
It is a simple rule every mother should know.
When you cut their hair, they’re not your baby anymore.
Like Sampson, only in reverse. Cutting a baby’s hair seems to make them stronger. Right before your very eyes your baby becomes a kid and I just hate it. Of course, I do want my children to grow up. I want them to become happy, healthy adults but DANG why does every step in the process have to hurt so much!?!
J.K. Rowling captured it perfectly (as is her way) in her latest novel The Casual Vacancy.
“How awful it was, thought Tessa, remembering Fats the toddler, the way tiny ghosts of your living children haunted your heart; they could never know, and would hate it if they did, how their growing was a constant bereavement.”
However, it’s not only that bittersweet mixture of sadness and gladness I experience at every milestone that keeps me clinging to every stage as it passes. It is also a desire to see both of my boys fully soak up the sunshine of childhood.
It is the same reason I hate dressing babies in jeans or little boys in suits. It is the same reason Griffin hasn’t been to a movie yet and my kids probably won’t have jobs in high school.
Childhood is short and I want both of my boys to enjoy it for as long as possible. It is a special and magical time that is over far too quickly. As my favorite holiday song says - if the fates allow, they will have many many more years as adults then they will as children.
There will be plenty of time for work and neckties and haircuts then.
