Thursday, August 23, 2012

children and fear

My oldest has a fear of the hair dresser. A real, true fear. Not just the hair dresser, but getting his hair cut in general.  He was ok for his first 2 or 3 cuts, but then got older and it freaked him out. We always were able to push through it, and rewarded him with ice cream after the cut.

A year or so ago, he had a bad experience. He had been with his grandparents, got a great cut, and came home telling me he was never getting it cut again.  It took me 4mths to get out of him that the clippers pulled his hair.  2 more months to convince him to try the hair dresser with scissors instead of clippers.  That resulted in half a hair cut, he wouldn't let her finish.

A few months later, his grandparents took him, same thing - half a cut.....that was in april. He wouldn't let us touch him after that (I was able to trim his bangs and the back ONE time.)  All the bribing in the world was not letting us near him with clippers or scissors; until today.

Today, he decided I could cut the back - just a bit. I am not a hair dresser, so I went for the bangs and the very bottom at the back....it resulted in almost 3 inches coming off. Still not a great cut, but at least it is somewhat fresher looking.  His reward? A fudge bar while it was being done, gets his water guns back (he lost them because he kept shooting water in the house) AND a sleepover at grandma and grandpa's house next weekend.

Here is a before/after




Instead of touching his shoulders, it now sits just below his ears.....not the best, as I said, not a hair dresser by any means; but I think it is better than before!

7 comments:

  1. Aww! My son was like that in the beginning when he first got his hair cut, I think they're opposite because now he loves going to get it cut.

    The haircut you gave him looks great, good job Mom! :)

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  2. That's very unfortunate that he had a bad experience :( His hair looks great, you did a nice job!

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  3. Isn't it amazing which battles our children choose? Our daughter Chelsea has now cut her own hair by herself 3 times....honestly to the point of bald patches.
    I say good for you, his fears won't last forever and you're allowing him a sense of control while learning that cutting hair doesn't have to hurt.

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  4. My son was never fond of having his hair cut either...always took a lot of bribing lol. I think you handled it awesome and it looks cute what you were able to cut! :)

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  5. Funny how some kids have that fear. I've known lots that have. Fortunately my daughter doesn't seem to mind hair cuts at all and even wants to help....

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  6. My youngest was nervous about it because she has sensory processing disorder. The noises and the feel of it to her was not pleasant at all. So I ended up taking her to an expensive place that just did kids hair and trying to schedule at a quieter time. Good for you for keeping at it. I cut my oldest girl's hair once and that was totally sucky. I am no hairstylist.

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  7. Our youngest shares his fears. She is convinced, CONVINCED that our hair dresser (a family friend with girls her age) is going to shave all her hair off. I've had to beg her to let me trim it because she refuses to go.

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