Hair Don'ts

We're on the countdown to the first day of school, and even after all these weeks of wishing it would come quickly, it still seems to take us unawares.

I shopped for school clothes online, making sure they all had plenty of time to arrive. Everything was a big hit, but some of it was just too tempting and now and again special permission was granted to wear this or that item. There goes that nice, crisp, brand-new feeling and look.

The Boy has got a suitably horrid new haircut. He wants his hair long like his cousin and I have no objections to slightly longish hair. When I was growing up, all the boys had long hair - it was these convict-style bald heads I found scary. But I knew that to have him show up at school with his long bangs hanging over his eyes would only lead to an emergency parent-teacher conference.

One of the things we feel is impeding your child's progress is his inability to see his work through that wall of hair over his face

No, I wasn't going to have that, so I sent him off to the hair salon, with instructions to leave it long but sort of clear away the hair over the eyes. I envisaged a rather nice modern layered style.

What I have is either Little Lord Fauntleroy or a lead singer from a 60s rock n roll group. The bangs are far too short, the sides are far too long. It took long enough to convince him to go in the first place, now I have to convince him to let me fix it.

I suppose it will look its absolute worst on picture day, which is usually scheduled early on, as it is one of the most important days in the school year as we all know. Field trips, school parties and picture day - these are the major events. Schoolwork is what they do to pass the time until the next big day.


So, I am off with trusty scissors to try to salvage some of his cool and save both of us a little embarrassment. I knew I should have had his hair cut last month - it would have grown out by now.

The Secret Lives of Parents

Children have a sixth sense. It tells them when you are having fun, so they can make sure they put an end to it. They are particularly attuned to video games.

For instance, The Boy and his cousin went to the park, leaving the Playstation unattended. Seeing this, I whispered conspiratorially to the husband "Wanna play some Sonic"? We both grinned in glee.

I found the game, loaded it and our hearts beat wildly at the trilling of "Se-ga!". The music began and we were off on an exciting hedgehog adventure.

Then the phone rang. The boys explaining that they were coming straight home from the park as they both needed to use the bathroom facilities.

We didn't relinquish the game right away. But despite our assurances that we had been playing Sonic the Hedgehog before they were even born, they insisted on giving us tips on how to play. All kids know that parents can't play video games - what a silly thought!

Although the children quickly gather around the TV as soon as their spidey sense tells them that the old people are at the PS2 again, we have one secret weapon up our sleeves.

School starts next week.