Why I let my son dye his hair blue

Yesterday was the last day of third grade for my little dude! I can’t believe it’s already summer break. I can’t believe he’s officially a FOURTH grader now. I can’t believe he will be ten in November. I can’t believe how long the days can be sometimes as a mom, but how short the years are.

My son is a remarkable child, with his own wild fashion style & a kind heart. I love being his mom & I am constantly amazed at what an amazing person he is growing into. He stops to help smaller kids on the playgrounds even if it means falling behind in a race with his friends. He is compassionate towards animals & always respectful of other people, their beliefs & personal space. He’s goofy & has the best giggle ever. I hope he always feels safe to be himself with me. Open about his interests, hobbies, friends, lifestyle, choices, mistakes and desires.

So when he asked me if we could dye his hair blue on the last day of school, I was like “HECK YES!”. I picked up the dye & pastelizer (he wanted a pale blue) yesterday & we dyed it as soon as he got home from school.

He confided in me that he was nervous. What if his friends made fun of him? I told him just to follow his heart, and no matter what to do what makes his heart happy – plus, if they were his real friends they wouldn’t make fun of him or care what color his hair was. Then he peeked in the mirror at the first dab of dye I put on & exclaimed “I am going to look awesome!“. After that he was so excited he could hardly sit still to let me finish putting the rest of the dye in. He barely made it through the thirty minute set time – every minute or two he would ask if it was ready to rinse so he could go show all of his friends on our street. When the time finally came, we rinsed, dried & styled it before he looked in the mirror. The look on his face when he saw his new hair was so perfect. The only word to describe it is awe. Mouth open, happy-eyed awe.

Then he said “I do look awesome!”. And he does. Not because his hair is blue. Because he’s happy, and happy always looks awesome. My parenting motto has always been this gig isn’t about kids fitting in, their popularity or grades. I measure my parenting success on how happy my kid is. So today, I think I’m doing okay.