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I have never cut my son's hair and it's bueatiful, thick, and long enough to sit on. I spend 20-30 minutes every morning braiding his hair, while he eats his breakfast. Keeping long hair on a child is a lot of work, it would be much easier to give him a burr.
In the last year he started asking for a haircut, because people mistake him for a girl, the kids at daycare tease him, and in Tulsa Ok no other boys have long hair like him.
I'm not sure how to handle this one. It will break my heart to see all that butiful hair cut off. But I want to be fair to him.
Anysugeations or insights?
My advice is to do what you think is right, for yourself and
your son. Your son may be too young understand this, but I
think that longer hair makes a person more uniqe, and some
people may look down on your for this, who cares what they say.
And maybe ask your son what he thinks, if you can get a straight
answer.
Hope this advice helps somehow.
Let us know what happens.
My advice is to do what you think is right, for yourself and
your son. Your son may be too young understand this, but I
think that longer hair makes a person more uniqe, and some
people may look down on your for this, who cares what they say.
And maybe ask your son what he thinks, if you can get a straight
answer.
Hope this advice helps somehow.
Let us know what happens.
Do you know who is the first person you should listen to, to be sure you do the right thing to your son?
Your son himself.
His hair is a part of him, so he has the last word about it.
if he want a hair cut than let him have it.....dont make him have long hair if he dont want it......
I think if your son is that desperate for a haircut, let him have one. I've seen people up in arms on this site over parents who force their sons to keep their hair short - is this really any different?
You should let your son keep his hair the way he wants to. Just inform him that hair takes a long time to grow back and would literally take years to grow back. At his age though boys want to be a part of the group and for any boy to deviate from that makes it hard. If you notice boys do not usually grow their hair out until they get older because they realize that they do not have to conform to what everybody wants.
BLAH BLAH BLAH
EVERY COUPLE OF MINTHS WE GET THIS DRIVEL...........
DUH!!!!! NO ONE IS GONNA BELIEVE THIS TILL WE SEE A PIC !!!!!!!!
There have been pictures posted here. Perhaps you just missed them. Here is a picture of a boy who is in my daughters' karate class. I'm hoping to get better pictures of him for the Samson page. He usually wears his hair in a single waist-length (maybe a bit longer) braid.
Here you see him in his first wearing of this outfit, that his mother made for him.
Hi shirley. Even i have 2 long haired boys. But they have never asked for a hair cut. They are 5 & 7 years old. Even i braid their hair every night. But for school they can only have a bun.
Usually the kids don't undersatnd at this age, what they r doing. So you better don't listen to others and do whatyou feel is right. Let him have long hair atleast until he is 10 or 11 years old and then let him decide what he wants.
You can send me e mail at monicashah_28@yahoo.com if you need to chat with me or need advice.
Shirly said the kid dosen't like it, feels uncomfortable with it and wants to cut it!!!
Don't you mean "MAKE him have long hair atleast until he is 10 or 11. . ."????
Hi Shirley,
It's great to hear from other mothers. I posted a few times months ago, but didn't get much response. We really need to keep this topic active. It sounds like your son is really cute. What color is his hair? We went thru the identical crisis several years ago when Tracey was 7. My goal was waist length, & we had 6 - 8 inches to go. He was being teased & constantly mistaken for a girl. What really helped us was giving him more responsibility for the upkeep. Your son might be to young right now, but when Tracey was 8 he could do his own braid. He brushed it out & braided it all by himself every night before bed. It really made him proud, & made him want to keep it long. We're also very lucky that we have a support group of aunts, cousins, & one grandmother who showered him with positive comments. He is 11 now & it's slightly below the waist, & we have no plans on cutting it.
Long hair on boys is moree common than most people think. One of the secretaries where I work has twin 7 year olds with mid back length hair done in a page boy style. I've only seen pictures, but they look darling. My sister, who has extremely long hair told me a cute story about seeing two girls in a super market earlier this summer. They both had long blonde hair. The older one @16 had her hair up, but the younger one @10 had a long braid to her waist. She assumed they were sisters. Later in the check out line they ended up right behind my sis. The line was slow & they started talking about hair, & continued their conversation into the parking lot. To make a long story shorter, it turns out that the younger girl was really her little brother. Of course she had to tell them all about Tracey. I could have killed her for not getting their phone number. I always shop there now; maybe I'll run into them.
Anyway, good luck on keeping it long. I know all the problems it can bring first hand, but for us it has definitely been worth it.
Tina
I thought Tulsa, OK was where Hanson was from. A couple of the brothers still have long hair.
Messages like this ruin this board. This is PURE fantasy, and how you people can believe it is beyond me. Sure, I see an indian boy here, but these types of messages appear to be from purportedly normal, non-ethnic people. I don't believe a word of it.
I find this statement offensive. The boy is Navajo. A Navajo is just as normal as the next boy. Besides, it's not like he's living in a reservation or some other community where Navajo culture surpasses the current western culture. Obviously, there is a strong pride in his heritage, but he and his family are part of their local community, which is probably not too different from yours. Anyway, he is not the only boy at that school with long hair. There was another boy, who is in middle school now, who wore a long mullet, just like his dad.
And you think "purportedly normal" are not to be interested in encouraging -- or even allowing -- their children to maintain their pelage in natural form? Or are you saying this is to be a privilege reserved for somehow "ethnic" people like Native Americans? Either way, I find that most puzzling and offensive enough to get me to say something here for the first time, though I think I read the statement a little diffrently from Victor and find it offensive for additional reasons that go beyond implicit racism.
I am about as "non-ethnic" (English-French-German extraction) as you could imagine, yet years before I found this board or any other Internet resources on hair (about three weeks ago), or even made the decision (about six weeks ago) to try to grow out my scalp hair to natural form (I have already continuously had a beard in natural form for over 16 of my 39 1/2 years) I had already decided that any sons I may have will be strongly encouraged and supported in their efforts to have their bodies -- including all pelage -- maintained in as close to natural form as possible. They would never be required (and in fact discouraged) to use a razor or to trim hair beyond minimal amounts needed to keep it healthy and comfortable or prevent it from looking excessively ragged. They would further be discouraged from having any other unnatural alterations done on their bodies such as tattooing, piercing, or circumcision. This arises out of my deeply held philosophical views on having our societies and technologies and machines be empowering and enabling aids -- not limitations, things which exact gestures of conformity in ways not really relevant to their orderly administration, or things which would demand that we alter our basic natural attributes to "adapt" to them. Certain very powerful internal drives have for many years been telling me that I will not be really naturally human until I can develop a natural mane, and I believe I now must take my chance to do so over the next few years. Why should I, or anyone else regardless of ethnicity with philosophical positions in any way similar, not be expected to want to pass such positions to their children?
Oh yes ... I function in modern society as upper-level management for the technical affairs of a small enterprise which supports and supplies an industry concerned with helping humans to acquire wild game and fish as a natural resource and in various other ways helping them to survive in a more "wild" mode. I am also surrounded by, and embrace (at times a bit selectively), many very powerful modern technological aids to design and manufacture (wooden) parts in furtherance of this end; to process, preserve, and help make efficient use of the resources so acquired once we return to our more "civilized" mode; to get easily to the places where such resources may best be acquired; and even to help locate suitable quarry. I disagree with the occasional voices that try to see fundamental contradictions in this, noting that man has always been a fundamentally technological animal. Sometimes I am considered somewhat eccentric for my positions on these matters and on natural bodily integrity, but at the same time seem to have garnered respect for them in all who regularly surround me with occasional compliments to the effect that they find them to be consistent. No one has had the guts to label me as not "normal," though. (Or to summarize, I am not a "hippie.") (Indeed, Jim, what were you really driving at by "normal?" Several possibilities come to my mind, all of them with very offensive implications.)
I hope I have reasonably explained my positions without allowing it to get too long. In conclusion, I find the original post, and the positions especially of Monica and Tina, to be anything but "absurd" or "fantasy."
Sounds like what former Los Angeles Police Chief Darryl Gates said about blacks vs. "normal" people!
Any race can be "ethnic"!
eth-nic adj.
1.a. Of or relating to sizable groups of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage. b. Being a member of a particular ethnic group. c. Of, relating to, or distinctive of members of such a group.
—eth-nic n.
A member of a particular ethnic group, especially one who maintains the language or customs of the group.
It's mean, bigoted statements like yours, that ruin this board. Do you have any proof, that people like shirley are creating hoaxes? Do you make it a habit of disbelieving anything, you can't see, beyond your backyard? For what it's f---ing worth, I believe shirley. I've seen 5-7 year-old blond boys with waist-length dreadlocks, in Supermarkets
Please have the courtesy, to not speak for others, You a-hole!!!!!!
I will admit I am wrong about when I see a picture of a regular caucasian 5 year old in regular clothes in a normal place, not a kid in an Indian suit or someone at a Halloween party. All you defenders of this woman KNOW you are living a fantasy, and it just helps you to justify your own fantasies to be mean to me. I have NEVER seen even one five year old with a pony tail, let alone hair he can sit on, braids, barettes, etc. THE BOY DESCRIBED HERE DOES NOT EXIST!! If he does, POST A PICTURE AND SHUT ME UP REAL GOOD!
why is it that you insist on seeing a child's picture on the net. if this is a fantasy then your cynical posts are a collective figment of our imagination and you really don't exist. all there is of proof to your existence are these posts. how do i know you really don't doubt the posts and that you're only trying to stir up trouble? i have no proof otherwise. these are points worth pondering, i think.
cut it off if thats what he wants
Unluckily when I was a child I had not a mother like you.
I would be pleased to keep long hair, but she didn't want it.
Let the hair grow.
I have had longhair all my life. I have had a few haircuts and my hair is usually down to the middle of my back. If your son wants a haircut then give him one. But cut his hair to a shoulder lenght or a little shorter. This way by the time he is interested in girls his hair will be quite long. And I know from experience that longhair can get women. Even since I was 12 I was getting play from girls even a year or two older than I that wanted to braid or play with my hair. Now I am 16 and I never have to braid my hair by myself because there is always a girls waiting to do it.
Just do what your son wants!
It's not a problem surely. Especially in Tulsa (look at Hanson). I'm 17 now and have always had long hair except for when I was about 14 and a hairdresser told me to cut it short and let it grow back because it would be thicker and healthier.
For almost a year I felt like I was bald. My hair's now about mid back and I just wear it in a simple pony tail. I got teased at school but just ignored it and the other kids soon accepted it. They were shocked when I got it cut off. When I changed schools from co-ed to male-only when I was 11 there were problems with some of the guys, but again they quickly accepted it.
I don't think I'll ever have short hair. Sure it takes more looking after, but when you take your shirt off and walk along the beach it feels wonderful.
Also go back in history - not so long ago it used to be men who had to have long hair and women who had long hair had to tie theirs up! And read stories of Hercules!
As for the teasing at the childcare centre - I got that too, but I realise now it was mostly from the kids playing out what their parents said about me at their home. I still stay in touch with some of those early friends and we laugh about it now. And one now has a very long rats tail and another dreadlocks longer than my hair.
If you son want's a haircut, show him lots of pictures of what he can do and let him decide.
I think the best thing about me having long hair from an early age was it taught me a lot about being clean and taking care of yourself.
Above all, you're not letting your son down for your own happiness. He'll choose - but let him. It'll always grow back if he wants it to.
Just a PS: my sister has a nine year old son who wanted to get his ears pierced at the same time as his twin sister, and did. He got hell at school for a couple of days and then everyone was jealous!
I can't believe the negativity out there. We are supposed to be helping Shirley, not attacking her truthfulness. Oh well, I guess it's a free country.
Anyway, Shirley have you made any decision? Remember, you don't have to cut it all. Maybe slightly above the waist would be a good compromise. Good luck.
Tina
I'm beginning to hate this phrase. Not because I wish this weren't a free country (an by the way, this website is worldwide), but because it is misused. The freedoms we enjoy in the United States are not absolute freedoms but freedoms that are limited by their impact on others. You are not free, for example, to murder someone, because that interferes with their freedoms and rights.
Similarly, you have a right to speak your mind, but there is no inherent right granted by the constitution of the United States to speak what you will on this board. A better case could be made that I as webmaster can excercise my free speech rights by moderating this board as I see fit. Denying others' free speech is an excercise of my free speech. By doing so, I am not denying their freedoms at all.
The misuse of "this is a free country" (I'm speaking of a mindset here) has resulted in a country that to a large degree has forgotten the notion of etiquette and politeness.
What about freedom from negatively?
Logical Contradiction:
"Denying others' free speech is an excercise of my free speech."
"I am not denying their freedoms at all."
Which is it? I think that you mean that you have to deny their freedoms in order to exercise your freedoms. Remember, rights are relative.
"Denying others' free speech is an excercise of my free speech."
"I am not denying their freedoms at all."
It's not a contradiction when you include scope into the picture. The scope of my denying others' free speech is this message board. The scope of not denying their freedoms is the universe.
< I agree , the trouble with "freedom Of Speach " is there is no competency test.
P.S.: In case you don't know who doubting Thomas was, he was the one who had to see Christ was alive after he rose from the dead after being crucified.
Tina I agree with u completely. Shirley is here to get some advice and support and not to bet booed by those opposed to long hair.
Shirley don't listen to the negative posts here. Do what you think is best for you and your son. Also keep in mind that if you cut his hair it will take a long time to grow back.
Best of luck shirley
I am a 19 year old boy and my hair reaches to the middle of my back. I have been growing it out for some years and I have definately enjoyed getting longer hair. Girls are just crazy about helping me brush/braid my hair and it really helps me get to know more people. I get comments like "I just love your hair" and "I love guys with long hair" all the time.
Sure it takes time to care for it, but it's worth it. I enjoy brushing my hair, I also enjoy the feeling of my long hair flowing down my back. It's great and I want to grow it down to my waist.
I just wish I started growing it before.
So encourage your son to keep his hair long, and tell him that Boys with long hair get a lot more attention than boys with short hair.
Good luck!
Don't compare the life of a 5 year old to that of a 19 year old. Shirley plainly stated that her son wants to change, that its a daily chore for both of them and that the peer ridicule worries her. These are all factors that you do not have to deal with in your life and comparing your lives just shows the typical immature vanity of a 19 year old.