Rights of passage

Rights of passage, there aren't enough of them anymore.  I have heard some say that they are dumb or totally unnecessary.  But I completely disagree, especially for boys.  In the days when the life of a boy was marked by his transition from dresses to short pants to long pants and whiskers there is something to be said for the knowledge that he is on the road to becoming a man.

I like to observe some of these rights still.  We don't dress our boys in dresses for sure but the first haircut is certainly one to observe.  Yesterday Layn looked like this.  His hair was long, curly, and very wispy.  He was constantly brushing it out of his face and on quick glance there were some who did mistake him for a little girl.  Today his mom decided it was time that he should look like the boy that he is only she is a softee and so grandma had to do the dirty deed.

So I took him down to Jen's shop.  Jen is a friend in her early 20's who has younger siblings so I know she isn't going to fuss over him.  She read him a book about how everyone has hair and sometimes you need to have a haircut.  Then she propped the book up in front of the mirror and got to work.

She chatted with him the whole time pointing out what she was doing in the mirror.  At one point she even got a tissue and put some of his curls in it for his mom.  He seemed to like that idea although he made not a sound the whole time.

When Jen was done she wiped his face gently.

And pointed out his reflection in the mirror.  He now looks like the little boy that he is.  Not only that but the haircut emphasizes the bruises that he has on his forehead from all of his little boy antics.  Thank you Jen for making it such a good experience for Layn.