Yesterday, Brendan used the ultimate kid complaint on me. He huffed, "Why is Dad the boss of me, if I'm my own person?" This was brought on by the fact that Bill insisted that Brendan get his hair cut. It was almost touching his ears, for heaven's sake!
Brendan wants to grow his hair longer. He's had the same short cut since he was practically in kindergarten. But, he doesn't spend much time styling it in the morning, or at least the way Bill finds acceptable, so he insists on keeping it short.
I don't have a problem with his hair. I think he should be allowed to wear it any way he wants. But Bill sees it as a sign of poor parenting if his child goes out in public with bed head. He likens it to wearing dirty, ratty clothes. I think it's one of the only ways Brendan has of expressing himself since he wears a uniform to school. But that argument doesn't hold up when Brendan doesn't fix his hair.
I'm certain Bill having this argument with his dad, who was in the military at the time. I've seen school pictures of little Billy in his buzz cut. But at some point, his dad let up, and by the time we started dating, he had hair way past his ears. So when is that point going to happen for Brendan? I've sworn to stay out of the middle of this. I told Brendan that he needs to talk to Bill and present a convincing argument why he should be allowed to wear his hair long, but he doesn't want to bother, yet. Maybe it will become a bigger issue in Secondary School.
I imagine it won't be too long before I hear the other immortal complaint, "You're not a kid. You don't understand what it's like!" I've heard that it is a scientific fact that, just as in child birth, the brain forgets the pain of adolescence, and so it may be true. I won't be able to understand. Perhaps there is something to this tweenager thing that I hadn't seen in Brendan before. Lord help me. The ride is just beginning!
