Surviving the Domestic Jungle

I am so proud of my daughter Avery tonight that I have to say something before I go to sleep. We occasionally do her hair in a style we call “chipmunk ears” and it is as cute as can be! Its kind of like two pigtails wrapped in a bun shape. It really is cute and every time I put her hair like that she always gets complements. This morning she specifically asked for chipmunk ears and so I did them and when I picked her up from school, she told me all about how kids made fun of her hair! I was devastated and I know she was too. We talked about it a little bit and then something else happened and that was the end of it until tonight when she was getting her jammies on. We talked about it more in depth and I told her not to worry about stuff like that and that kids just say things because they are jealous. The usual mom speech. She told me the teacher told her that her hair was cute so I used that to my advantage because when you are a kid your teacher is the end all be all of information and all that is smart in this world. I told her that if her teacher said her hair was cute that it must have been adorable because teachers are very smart. Well, that made her smile and I felt like she was healing from her first traumatic experience of someone dumping on her looks and effecting her self esteem. If only she knew how much worse it is going to get. Hopefully those ruthless kids out there are not too harsh on her because she is extremely sensitive. Anyway, when we had talked through her hair trauma she said, “Mommy, I want to wear my hair like that again tomorrow ok?” I nearly passed out! That’s right, my daughter at 5 is brave enough and has enough self confidence do go out there and do it again even though earlier in the day she was in tears about it. I told her “You bet!”. I’m just really proud of her for not succumbing to the bull crap kids dish out to each other. They are mean little things! Anyway, I am feeling accomplished as a mom this evening in that I am raising a daughter who is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in……and her hair. GO AVERY!!!!