haircutThere are some rites of passage that are pleasurable for parents. The first smile! The first steps! And then there is the very first time you discover your child has gotten hold of a pair of scissors and given something -- or worse, someone -- a haircut.

As a fellow traveler on the road who was once informed by a certain person under 4 feet tall that "Dora did it" (yes, that Dora), you have my leave to go scream into a pillow when it happens. OR, you could try this. A father named Jeff Cohen, a very brave soul indeed, decided to ask his 5-year-old exactly WHY she gave her little sister a haircut. The result, as they say, is priceless. Take a listen:

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OK. Be honest with me now: could you be angry after that? I mean, there was a reasonable explanation (no one wants hair in the toilet after all) shared in the type of voices that I wish we could bottle. Little girls only sound like that for so long, but I have always thought that's what fairies sound like -- all tinkly and sugary.

That first kid-performed haircut is infuriating. I get it! Not only have I dealt with my daughter's, oh, excuse me, Dora's scissor shenanigans, but I was once the wielder of those instruments of ... oh I'll just say it: torture. I tortured my younger brother by cutting a rather large swath of hair off his head. Of course I told my mother that he "fell" into the scissors, to which she more or less responded, "yeah, right."

But this is what kids DO! We did it. Our parents did it. And if it hasn't happened in your home ... it will. Just wait until you hear their explanation before you decide how to handle it! You never know what they'll have to say!

How did the "haircut" go down in your household?

 

Image via Jeanne Sager