Brooklyn's New Haircut

Sunday morning before church, I trimmed Brookyn's bangs. They had gotten a bit long, and were in front of her eyes. Later, sitting in church I thought to myself that she sure has beautiful hair. Monday night we watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame and discussed how we should treat everyone kindly no matter what they look like, not judge a book by its cover, etc. Then last night, when I got out of the shower, I was greeted by this.

Yep, Brooklyn had taken a pair of the kids' school scissors, and cropped all of her bangs to about a half inch in length. I was really mad. Unreasonably mad, because she's only four. I told her that that was an ugly and boyish way to cut her hair, and that only adults were allowed to cut hair. I really hurt her feelings. I apologized afterward and told her that I love her no matter what she does or how she looks, and that she's still beautiful, but the damage was already done. She is actually VERY image conscious for her age, and she has since expressed surprise when we've gone places and no one has approached her to say that she looks like a boy. From time to time she'll get a sad look on her face out of the blue, and say, "Mom, I'm just really sorry that I cut my hair." It's really heartbreaking. She learned that sometimes our actions have long-lasting consequences, and I learned that you can't unsay hasty words once they are spoken.