Douglas Adams was one of my favourite authors a million years ago when I was very young. In the third book of his five book trilogy he writes about an imaginary civilisation that expelled all the superfluous people such as public telephone cleaners, middle management and hairdressers. The karmic outcome was the demise of the entire civilisation due to a deadly disease transmitted via public telephones. Hilarious right?!!Well I can't imagine a world without hairdressers....
I have a gorgeous little bear that is possibly autistic.
Last time Little Bear had a much needed haircut (it was long and riddled with head lice UGH!) it was a fairly traumatic event. I held him while the ever patient hairdresser snipped off his golden locks. He did scream. Big tears did roll down his face. He did pick up locks of hair from his lap and tried to stick them back on his head. Was kind of funny and cute except for the obvious distress he was experiencing. I swore I'd never again force him to have a haircut. He could have it cut when he gave his permission.
Many months later I was wondering if I'd have to start plaiting his hair. Grandad had tried. Dad, big brother and sister, Aunty, amazing Kindy teacher and many friends had conversations with little bear about having his hair cut - with no success.
This afternoon I parked outside the hairdresser's salon, planning to walk down a few shops to the news agency. Little Bear walked up to the salon door and announced: hair cut!
Well it did take about 10 minutes of gentle persuasion from both the hairdresser and I but he climbed on to the tall stool all by himself and submitted to the Wiggles cape. Oh hooray! He held my hand throughout and he covered his face with the cape and he would not allow the squirting from the spray bottle BUT he now has a smart new cut AND is very proud of himself.
What made this possible? All the preparation from those he trusted, definitely! But above all; the compassion, ingenuity, kindness and patience from a young hairdresser. She elicited his favourite characters, told him he was going to look just like Peter Parker and made special spider webs between her hands with hair gel.
I bet she's glad I didn't kiss her - felt like it though!
Y CateSunshine
1 comment:
I was lucky my two kiddies were okay about haircuts but it does make you wonder why it can be such a distressing experience for young children. Maybe they feel that having their hair cut is like losing part of their body which certainly seems likely with your little one trying to reattach the cut tresses. I have a friend whose daughter was terrified of having her hair cut so the parents had to wait until she was asleep so that they could trim her fringe. Off the subject, look forward to reading our earlier posts! Michelle
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