Hair
I always appreciate Abbie’s notes home from preschool. Sometimes they alert me to new behavior, such as the one about Abbie loving to play hide and seek. Sometimes they remind me about behaviors, such as the few notes we get every month about her hitting a teacher. Today’s note home from preschool said Abbie is “having problems keeping hair out of mouth.” This was a reminder note.
Abbie started chewing on her hair about a week ago. She had a cold at the time, and I assumed her hair chewing was related. Maybe it was a tic to take her mind off the sinus pressure, or maybe she was trying to even distribute snot across a wider area of her head. Whatever the reason, it was disgusting and I discouraged it.
At first I reminded her not to do it. Reminding her not to do bad behaviors didn’t stop her from climbing on the counters, it didn’t stop her from throwing food, and it didn’t stop her from chewing on her hair.
My next step was to threaten to cut her hair if she chewed on it. That affected her for a couple days; she wasn’t quite sure what a haircut involved, but it sounded bad. Then I made one of the more common parenting mistakes: I followed through on my threat.
One night after repeatedly threatening to cut her hair if she kept chewing on it, I grabbed a pair of scissors, and lopped off the wet lock. I had hoped to frighten her, but instead I taught her that a haircut is at least interesting if nothing else.
Now I simply tell her to take her hair out of her mouth, and Abbie adds “or we’ll cut it off.” It might be a game, and it’s certainly not curbing the behavior.
Tonight she even asked for a haircut. I obliged and took advantage of her rare cooperative streak. I trimmed her bangs above her eyebrows, and I snipped several strands around the cheeks that keep finding their way into her mouth. She still has plenty of long hair on her back to munch, and the side hair will quickly grow back, but at least she has fewer targets now.
Maybe tomorrow’s note from preschool will comment on the unique haircut I gave her.
Abbie started chewing on her hair about a week ago. She had a cold at the time, and I assumed her hair chewing was related. Maybe it was a tic to take her mind off the sinus pressure, or maybe she was trying to even distribute snot across a wider area of her head. Whatever the reason, it was disgusting and I discouraged it.
At first I reminded her not to do it. Reminding her not to do bad behaviors didn’t stop her from climbing on the counters, it didn’t stop her from throwing food, and it didn’t stop her from chewing on her hair.
My next step was to threaten to cut her hair if she chewed on it. That affected her for a couple days; she wasn’t quite sure what a haircut involved, but it sounded bad. Then I made one of the more common parenting mistakes: I followed through on my threat.
One night after repeatedly threatening to cut her hair if she kept chewing on it, I grabbed a pair of scissors, and lopped off the wet lock. I had hoped to frighten her, but instead I taught her that a haircut is at least interesting if nothing else.
Now I simply tell her to take her hair out of her mouth, and Abbie adds “or we’ll cut it off.” It might be a game, and it’s certainly not curbing the behavior.
Tonight she even asked for a haircut. I obliged and took advantage of her rare cooperative streak. I trimmed her bangs above her eyebrows, and I snipped several strands around the cheeks that keep finding their way into her mouth. She still has plenty of long hair on her back to munch, and the side hair will quickly grow back, but at least she has fewer targets now.
Maybe tomorrow’s note from preschool will comment on the unique haircut I gave her.
posted by Matt at
11:37 PM
4 Comments:
If you have any advice on how to stop a hair-twirler, I'll take it. Kendra started twirling with one hand as she'd go to sleep around Christmas time. When she's sick, she twirls with both hands. Suggestions? She'd need a butch if we went the cut-it-off route...
By
Anonymous, at 8:18 AM
Oh, no, you don't understand. Daddy is seemingly incapable of cutting abbies bangs straight or at a respectable length. I took one look at her this morning and reiterated again that he is never to cut her hair ever again. Ever.
By
Anonymous, at 9:38 AM
I usually dread notes from the preschool. But that's a whole other story.
Hey ... I might have it somewhere, but I can't find your e-mail address. Could you drop me a line? Either at deepmuckbigrake@yahoo.com or becky_handsfull@yahoo.com. Got a question to ask. Thanks!
By
1A, at 10:51 AM
I figured that Matt would be in more trouble for trimming Abbie's bangs than us cutting the boys hair a few months ago. And I told him then that he should never trim her bangs again, to bring her here.
By
Anonymous, at 1:49 PM
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