Everything changes when you have a child. Your heart expands and you become incredibly vulnerable. If you are lucky the child will make you try to be a better person than you ever were. This is an old painting- a triptych- I did when my son was a toddler. I call it "Heart Transplant for Superwoman".
I am pushed to the edge by my sons- who just yesterday cut each other's hair. I was in my studio at the time. This is what we have to face just days before school starts. I am freaking out and probably making an a-- of myself. Why does this upset me so? I tell them:
1. they will be judged by strangers
2. their teachers will not like them
3. it looks so low class
4. it's not even artistically well done
5. it just looks hideous
6. they look like thugs
7. why can't they fly below the radar at the start of a new school year?
And they respond:
1. Do they care what strangers think?
2. Their character is more important than their outer appearance
3. We should not judge others
4. Perhaps my snobbery should be in question
5. it is a means of self expression
6. it's only hair
7. teachers can't grade kids based on their looks
8. as an artist am I really saying we should not draw attention to ourselves?
Sigh...
I am going to shave them bald by midnight.
Best to stick with #6:
ReplyDeleteIt's only hair.
My son Alec (who has platinum blonde hair) dyed his hair every color in the rainbow when he was your son's age. I hated it! He used food color and it washed out quickly. Then he bought the real hair dye - a deeeep indigo blue. His hair being so light to begin with, it really took that dye. So, there he was with midnight blue hair and the palest complexion. Just Awful. The deep blue only lasted a couple of weeks, however, and then it faded to that old lady lavender color! He hated it! And that just had to grow out. He never dyed his hair again after that.
Sometimes we don't have to say a thing...
:^)
thank you Martha. Thank you.
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