Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Weave Only Just Begun

Within the last day or so, I visited a local store and, as usual, drooled over the cute kids running around doing this and that. One of the kids that stands out in my memory was a little girl I'd guess to have been about six- or seven-years-old.

She was a cute kid, still young enough to have chubby cheeks, but looking less and less like a baby every day, I'd imagine. I also imagine that this has got to be a tough transition for parents. Just from my experiences with cousins and step-siblings, I'm sure it would be hard for me. I want the cute lil rugrats to stay that small and that young for as long as possible.

Maybe that's just because I don't have any children, yet, because a number of parents seem to feel differently. They seem to be trying their best to age their kids beyond their time on this Earth.

Or maybe they're trying to do something else, but either way, it bugs me that so many parents are willing to put weave in their little girl's hair.


That's one of the reasons I remember this little girl. Her hair was braided in a cute hairstyle that was somewhat age appropriate, I guess, but that said, to me, that the hair she had wasn't good enough or long enough or "white" enough or whatever.

Maybe this seems like a stretch to some of you, but I couldn't help using my crystal bal(d head) to look into this family's future. I saw a 14- or 15-year-old young lady trying to convince her parents to let her wear shorter skirts on her bottom, higher heels on her feet, ... and make-up on her face.

I imagined her parents putting their collective foot down, drawing a line, and telling her that she's too young for make-up and these other things that'll change her appearance, make her look older, and/or augment her under-aged assets.

I couldn't help wondering what made hair-weave the exception to the rule.

I'm not even getting into what it means when adults choose to push these up or fluff that out for one reason or another. When a child does it - with the encouragement and economic support of her parents - it concerns me.

Does this mean my future daughter won't be allowed to get a perm until she reaches a certain age... or for as long as she's a minor? I don't know, but I do know how I feel when I see little girls that can hardly speak clearly, doing booty-shaking dance, dressing provocatively, and wearing hair extensions.

I know they won't be kids forever, but can they at least be kids... while they're still kids?

5 comments:

Black Wombmyn Chat said...

I think it's pretty hard for parents (mothers, usually) to remind themselves that part of their job is keeping their daughters off the pole when they themselves are still vying for such attention.

I think I'm gonna get Amish on my kids and make them wear ankle length gingham dresses and thick ass white tights and be like 'What? This ain't no fashion show!'

Or maybe that would be pushing it...

Michael May said...

Amen, West.

I hear a lot of older parents with teenagers lament about how sweet their kids were as youngsters. It's like they're mourning someone who's died.

I shouldn't criticize too hard until my boy becomes a teen and I have to deal with it personally, but I've made a promise to myself that I'm going to enjoy David at whatever age he is.

I'm not going to wish he could stay five forever. What would be the point of wishing that? I'm also not going to push him to act older than he really is.

It may be naive of me, but my hope is that this philosophy will help us develop a relationship that will let me truly enjoy him as a teen.

Lola Gets said...

Parents do things to kids they shouldnt all the time. I had a perm put in my head when I was 7. My hairdressers now say they dont understand why. Hopefully these weave wearing children will eventually see the light.
L

Liz Dwyer said...

If you look at girls clothing at your local Sears or JcPenney, I swear, the clothes for girls are miniature "ho" clothes. Except they're ho clothes with an overdose of pink, lavender and bedazzler applique! Makes me glad I have boys.

I have no problem with tastefully done makeup but I would really push my daughter (if I had one) to keep her hair natural. I hate that there's an automatic response to straighten or weave the hell out of our girls' hair. But grown women don't know how to do any different so it's not just little girls, it's women as a whole.

Eb the Celeb said...

Deep, I never thought about it like that. That weave may have that type of profound meaning when on a child. I remember last winter I was visiting my aunt who has a daughter that is 4. She has pretty thick hair, and I adore her cute lil afro puffs. I hadnt seen her in at least a year and I had a weave in. She spent the first 30 minutes staring at my hair and wanting to touch it. She said, I want my hair to be like yours. You have hair like my friend (becky... or whatever her lil white friends name was) and it upset me. I went to my aunt and she didnt think anything was wrong with it. She said Makayla has always said that... she just hates that it hurts when we comb her hair. But there was defintely something deeper there.