My daughter and I went to make our hair few days ago, the stylist gave us a very warm welcome and asked if my daughter cries when she’s making her hair so I said she doesn’t cry as long as her mouth is busy and having something to watch she’s good to go so she said ok and asked her age and I told her.
Afterwards, she asked who will go first then I said I will go first and she made a very satisfying hair for me.
Then it was my daughter’s turn, right there I realized I didn’t come with the elastic band for her hair. While she’s was still combing her hair, I asked her if I can quickly go pick up the band, is just few minutes’ drive and she said fine.
Got close to my daughter and explained to her that I was going to pick the hair band I forgot that I won’t be long and she said OK so I gave her crisps and water then left.
By the time I got back, a familiar church member was there with her daughter but I noticed my daughter was crying with tears all over her face. I quickly asked her, are you ok? Is your hair paining you? She nodded No! Why are you crying? She didn’t say anything.
I turned to the stylist and asked was she crying when I left? She said no that she started crying when the church member walked in so I said probably she thought it was her mummy. I turned to her and said, is ok, mummy is here now, wiped her tears and gave her a drink and a hug.
The next thing the stylist said was ” I’m not going to make her again, it gets to me when children cry” quickly I used my pause button and said it is okay for her to cry if she wants to cry it doesn’t matter if you will make her hair again or not.
For me, I’m happy that my child is able to express her feelings. This is a child expressing her need for relatedness. She should be able to express what she feels at any given time such as laugh, cry, sad, tired, hungry, happy, and sick. I don’t want to raise a child who will grow into adulthood and not have the ability to express herself. It is every child’s right to express themselves.
