Saturday night I noticed that my 9-year old’s bangs looked odd, as if he’d sawed at them with scissors. I said, “Did you cut your hair?” He said, “Oh, uh, no.” I said, “You did, too! Why did you cut your hair?” He said, “Oh, that. Well, uh, I was feeling uncomfortable and I had something in my hair and so I cut it.” (He was outside. Came inside, found scissors, took them outside and cut his hair.)
What? So I got my sheers and trimmed up his bangs, leaving him with a hairstyle which can only be described as Little Dutch Boy. 
I heard vague rumors about one of my 13-year old sons getting gum in his hair (“It was not my fault! I cut it out! It was here in the back!”) as we drove to church on Sunday morning. Why am I not even consulted in these matters?
Today, there I was minding my own business and the same 13-year old said, “Hey, why does Gracie have gum in her hair?” And I scoffed. “She doesn’t have gum in her hair!”
Only, she did have gum in her hair. She had four evenly spaced wads of reddish gum along the left side of her head. This was not good because she is hair-deficient. While her hair is curly, it is sparse and in almost four and a half years of living, she’s managed only to grow a short curly mop. 
Without alarming her, I asked, “Why did you put gum in your hair?”
She denied it. I said, “You have gum in your hair! How did it get there?”
And she said, “It just fell into my hair!”
I used cooking oil to ease it out of her hair, thus avoiding scissors entirely. We were lucky this time. I just hope she doesn’t decide to use her expert scissors skills to cut her curls off because if I’ve learned anything in 13 years of mothering, it’s that a bad idea masquerades as a good idea when it presents itself to a 4-year old. (Also, I’ve learned never to walk around the house in socks. You never know what puddle or piddle you might step in.)
Actual Unretouched Photo 
My then 4 year old cut a very short swath across the top of my then 2 year old girls hair once. Her hair fell below her armpits at the time. the reverse mohawk was not what I had in mind for her hairstyle for the next year but she still has short little pieces that work their way out of braids and ponytails all over the top of her head. I couldn’t bring myself to cut it all off to match and have contented myself with hiding the evidence for almost a year now. I cried.
I guess I should at least be happy that her hair grows so well and so losing two years growth in a second is nothing, it will all grow back in another two years…wait, yeah it just sucks, hope yours stays away from the scissors.
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Yep, wearing shoes around the house is very good advice.
And here I was, thinking how amazingly well behaved my 4 year old son was who never ever painted onto walls or anything and lately he has discovered the joy of scissors. He cut a little of his hair off to “see if it really was blonde” in December. I too couldn’t bring myself to cut the rest equally short so he’s still looking like there is a hole in his bangs.
Since then he has started to use sharpie on the living room table, cut up every piece of paper he can get his hands on and left crayon marks on the hardwood floor all over the house. Sigh. The hair at least grows back.
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So sorry for your pain.
But, it does make for a funny blog post.
(reminder to self…hide scissors before grandson arrives…)
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Peanut butter works too. Or melted chocolate. Like your oil it has something to do with breaking down the gum and making it easier to remove.
Not sure what I’ll blog about after the kids grow up and move out. They DO make life interesting! 🙂
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That is too funny. We were just talking about that at Church! I am glad you got it out!! Meanwhile I’d watchout for falling red gum :).
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Gosh, I hate it when I walk in the bathroom and my socks get wet!
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Yuck, I cannot walk in my house without shoes, either.
DeSolvIt should be on every mom’s shelf. It is great for removing gum from hair, adhesive residue from stickers that kids plaster on the good furniture, crayons, etc. I love it. (Walmart, Bi-Mart)
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Ugh! Why do children think they have to cut their hair? Ian cut Joey’s once a few years ago. And it’s always in a terrible spot! As for the gum, ice will get it out of hair too, without an oily mess. 🙂
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My 3 1/2 year old great niece cut her own hair the first of December. She was definately hair-deficient. Her mother (I use this term very loosely) took her to the beauty shop and came back with this baby’s head SHAVED. She said thaat is all the could do. I still feel this is next to child abuse!! Now after 3 months of growth she has a little hair. I am sure that you can tell it still upsets me!!
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That picture (with paint on her nose?) is adorable.
Man, I hate it when gum falls in my hair.
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when my dear daughter was 4 or 5 she cut her bangs to the scalp all the way back to the crown of her head. She looked like Warf the Clingon on Star Trek. I was VERY pregnant with my 5th child, all I could do was sit on the floor and cry.
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Okay, so… once upon a time… when my child was actually a child — about 7, I think… I got a call from school, telling me my daughter was ill and needed to be picked up from school. This was the day after she’d spent the night at her father’s house, so I had not seen her in about 48 hours.
I got to school, and she was in the nurse’s office, doing the final death scene from La Traviata. But… something was… not quite right… she was… different… I looked at her for a moment, studying her up and down, and said, “What in the name of all that’s holy happened to your hair?”
She’d hacked her bangs completely off at the scalp!
She began to wail: “I c-c-cut m-my h-h-h-hairrrrrrr….” Turns out she wasnt’ sick at all. She had gotten a hold of her father’s scissors from his desk (where she knew full well she was not supposed to be) and had given herself a “little trim.” Fearing his reaction when he realized a) she’d cut her hair, and b) she’d used the forbidden scissors with which to do it, she panicked and had them call me.
Oh, yeah… And because God has a sense of humor…. this was three days before Picture Day.
Kids and their hair… I think its a rite of passage, frankly….
~C~
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