LifeParentingPolitical

Where is My Mother of the Year Award?

blue and purple hair dye
When we woke up this morning Rowan came out and saw Lorelei’s hair for the first time and cackled. He ran up to her and touched her hair and gave her a hug.

Every so often, Lorelei asks to dye her hair. And all those so oftens, I say “sure!” Because… why not?

I am always reminded of one of my favorite Facebook threads ever

Five years ago a story was circulating about a daycare teacher who used a magic eraser to scrub a temporary tattoo off of a kid’s face. If you’ve ever used a magic eraser you know that by “erase” they actually mean “remove the top layer of paint.” The same applies to the skin.

Everyone was appropriately horrified, and some of us wondered what was wrong with a temporary tattoo on a kid’s face, to begin with.

I’m firmly in the parenting camp of “Is it hurting anyone? Is it causing permanent change to your body? Is it impeding your ability to do the things that need doing? No? Go ahead then.”

The camp name doesn’t fit very well on the t-shirts, but that’s ok because we just write it in Sharpie on our arms.

Cassauuuundra was in the camp across the lake called, “Camp Nobody Have any Fun.” They didn’t have shirts because that wouldn’t be business casual, now would it?

She appeared in the comment section of a friend’s post about the magic eraser teacher. She wasted no time letting us know that temporary tattoos on the face were tantamount to sending our children to stripper school. The prisons are filled with people whose parents let them wear butterfly tattoos on their foreheads. She actually, literally, compared letting your kid draw on themselves with pen to sending them to school in crotchless panties.

Dramatic re-enactment

via GIPHY

I won’t screenshot or quote big pieces because it’s not my thread. But the highlights include, “a child should not be at school in any dress that would be unacceptable in a courtroom,” “I would think a parent should not allow their child to attend school in a manner that they would not attend work,” and “actually, the [temporary] tattoo IS a problem. just like sending your kid to pre-school with hair dyed blue or wearing gang clothes is a problem.”

BRB

Sorry, I had to go drop off some pantyhose and a pantsuit for Lorelei at camp.

Wherever Cassauuuundra is now, she is clutching her pearls as I tell you that Lorelei regularly goes to school with dirt somewhere on her body, she does not get a bath daily, I dye her hair whenever she asks, and she has been known to color all over her body just for fun.

I have limits. I try to avoid sending her out in makeup, for instance. But also? I pick my battles.

So this morning, when she came out of her bedroom wearing bright red lipstick and ready to head to camp, I chose not to say anything rather than deal with some sort of power struggle over her appearance. Besides, it went along nicely with her freshly dyed hair. And red lipstick is work appropriate, right? So even Cassauuuundra should approve.

blue hair emo kid
The emo scowl is offset by the white gloves and pineapple shirt

Despite being a mostly perfect mother, I do have some questions.

Cassauuuundra, if you’re reading — is it ok if I put my son’s hair in a ponytail? I haven’t dyed it (yet) or anything. But maybe long hair on boys leads to delinquency? I’m not sure. I need your advice on that, so check in when you can.

squinty face ponytail
He laughed at himself while making this face for at least five minutes

I’m assuming that wearing a tutu to the local children’s museum is out, too? I mean, children’s museum is synonymous with “very important business lunch,” right?

 

tutu
Quit being such a judgmental ass

In contrast to the rest of my clearly questionable parenting choices, on the way to the skating rink last night I tried to talk with Lorelei about what happened in Charlottesville. I bumbled my way through the explanation of the protesters who pulled down the confederate statue in Durham earlier this week. She had a solution for that one…

Lorelei suggested a statue of Harriet Tubman might be betterThree cheers and a pat on the back for me! I am the parenting winner!

No

I have mostly failed in the name of comfort. Having these conversations with Lorelei is uncomfortable, so I tend to avoid them. Sure, we touch on difficult subjects. She says insightful quotable quotes and I share them on Facebook to make sure everyone sees how great my kid is. She is great. It’s me who has fallen asleep at the wheel. The fact that some of her very best friends are black, or that she goes to a diverse school — that’s all great. But it leaves a gaping hole where understanding meets compassion and empathy.

Frequenly, I think, “I need to have conversations about race and privilege with her” and then I don’t because the topic seems so huge. Because I never laid the framework, it has just grown and grown. Last night she said, “I didn’t understand a lot of that because you were using grown up words.”

I haven’t wanted to lay these burdens on her small shoulders, ignoring the massive privilege that gives me that leeway. The fact that I don’t have to have these conversations is all the more reason I should. I may stumble my way through them but I need to try. This isn’t a place to let perfectionism prevent action.

Why am I burying this story in a blog post about hairdye? Because I want to write about it, but the last thing I want is for it to become another pat on the back. Look at me, I’m trying so hard! Fuck that. Try harder, Rhiannon. You can always try harder.

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Rhiannon Giles

Rhiannon Giles is a freelance writer from Durham, North Carolina. She interweaves poignancy and humor to cover topics ranging from prematurity to parenting and mental health. Her work has been featured on sites such as The New York Times, Washington Post, Parents, Scary Mommy, McSweeney's, and HuffPost. You can find her being consistently inconsistent on her blog, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

4 thoughts on “Where is My Mother of the Year Award?

  • First, I think you at least deserve a participation trophy. At minimum.

    You might be a candidate for the “Best All round Parent.”

    And that little boy needs some hair dye and temporary tattoos.

    Reply
  • My mom was a little like Cassaaauuuuuuuundra about appearance. Hair styles were not something to have fun with or to experiment with. The good news, though, is that despite my temper tantrums about it, I was not allowed to have a rat tail. Thanks, Mom…..

    Reply
  • Melissa

    This might just be my favorite post yet. I can relate to every single bit of this. “I’m trying so hard! Fuck that. Try harder, Rhiannon. You can always try harder”, replace Rhiannon with Melissa and I must have thought the same thing a million times.

    I try to talk to Moira about race, and I know I fail a lot too. I know I need to do these things more. I had not told her about Charlottesville and then today the conversation was thrust upon us. There was a man driving a pick-up through downtown Durham this morning with a giant confederate flag waving high above the bed of the truck. I told Moira that flag represents racism. Then someone at camp mentioned that they moved their field trip from Bennett’s Place to Duke Garden to be cautious given the events of this week. I was forced to tell my 10 year old there was a white supremacist protest in Virginia this past weekend a counter-protest and a woman was killed by the white supremacists, that is what they were talking about. Like you I feel like an ass to complain about the difficulty of telling my child about the evil actions of white supremacists and I cannot imagine how any person of color feels. I want to bring treats to the pre-school teachers, but I fear it would seem like such a cowardly, self indulgent act that means nothing in comparison to the hate people of color witness. There was a black woman crossing the street behind the truck with the confederate flag and I wanted so badly to stop my car and get out and hug her and tell her sorry that exists and that I value her in my community. Instead I kept driving. I keep reminding myself it is better to try and fumble than not try at all, but I am embarrassed by how often I fail to try for fear of fumbling or making things worse.

    On the lighter note about kids appearance, I have been so tempted to dye Carolyn’s hair. Moira has only asked to dye hers once and I was happy to do it, but I did insist that for the first ever dye job we would start with temporary dye and I did not want to bleach it to make the dye show up better, so the color was not super noticeable and might be why she has not asked to do it again. Bummer. But I’m totally with you on the appearance. It’s school, a place to learn and you learn best when you feel free to be yourself and be comfortable. I was actually listening to a podcast today about coming out at work and studies show that LGBT that are out and feel comfortable to be their true selves are not just happier, but more productive. I would hypothesize that kids that feel comfortable being their true selves learn more.

    Reply
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