Mom-of-three Becky Lawrence* remembers the day she discovered that her daughter, Molly,* who was nearly three years old at the time, had given herself a haircut. ?She had the most gorgeous blond curls, which she?d completely sheared off,? the mom from Massey, Ont., remembers. Her daughter looked like a ?little ostrich chick? with her self-inflicted ?do. The experience clearly wasn?t traumatic for Molly because she cut her hair again?the night before she started junior kindergarten. ?This time she looked like Peter Pan, and all the kids thought she was a boy,? Lawrence says.
While some kids take the scissors to a younger sibling?s fringe or the mane on a favourite doll, others prefer to crop their own mops. Finding a pile of hair on the floor can be both infuriating and distressing for a parent, but it?s good to know that this behaviour is pretty common. ?Preschool-aged children are learning skills like cutting and pasting, as well as dress-up and dramatic play. Seeking a creative outlet for this new-found knowledge is a normal stage of development,? says Julie Romanowski, owner and consultant with Miss Behaviour, a parent coaching service in BC?s Okanagan Valley and lower-mainland-Vancouver area. How you deal with your aspiring stylist will depend on the reasons for her behaviour. Figure out if she?s acting out or trying to express herself. If it?s the former, Romanowski says the little offender might try to hide from you, be scared or surprised when she?s been discovered,...