Don’t Laugh at Me!

We want to arm our daughter with the ability to stand on her own two feet and stand up for herself when she needs to.  Call it ignorance if you want, but I had no idea she needed to be armed and ready when she went to preschool.

Let’s start from the beginning.  Mallory woke up this morning with a bad case of bed head.  It happens to all of us, no harm, we will just put her hair up in a ponytail.  If you’ve known Mallory since she’s been a baby, you know she grew a lot of hair.  By the time she was one she was able sport spiky pigtails.  As she grew up her classic look was a side ponytail.  Not only did I think it looked super cute (though biased because I am her mom) the pony also kept her hair out of her face. 

Mal at 18 months

Since she’s been two we haven’t used the side pony tail nearly as often.  She is able to sit long enough to let us blow dry her hair so it is trained to stay out of her face. 

Knowing that this preschooler of mine doesn’t keep barrettes in her hair and the need to keep her hair out of her face was a must, I resorted to the infamous side ponytail.  She wears it well and she hopped down off the stool and was set to go to preschool to play with her friends.

We got to school and walked into the building.  After Mallory took her coat off and hung it up, she walked over to sign herself in on the clipboard.  She was doing a great job, M. A. L. L. O.  and then I heard it.  I heard this little boy come running out of the classroom laughing. He ran up to Mallory, touched her little pony tail and said something about her funny hair.  Honestly, his articulation wasn’t the greatest so I didn’t really understand everything he said. 

My heart broke.  I wanted to run up to him and say “Hey that’s not nice.  She’s cute. Her hair looks a heck of a lot better then yours.  Where are your manners? No, ya know what. Where’s your mom?  I think I want to talk to her out in the parking lot."  The chances of his mom being bigger then me are pretty good and I figured starting a parking lot fight wouldn’t be the greatest “model behavior” for the class, so I controlled myself.  I stayed back where I was, and hoped she would stand up for herself. 

My four year old then looked up at this little boy and said “Hey. It’s just a ponytail.  DON’T LAUGH AT ME!”  (and then she punched him in the gut) No, again, I’m kidding. Wouldn’t that have been great, though…

She finished writing her name and then turned around to hug me.  She didn’t seem the least bit fazed by what the boy had said.  She grabbed Mr. Elephant and off she went into the classroom. I walked to the van, got behind the wheel, and took a deep breath and had a big smile on my face.  I hope we are doing her justice in raising her to be strong and confident.  She is growing up so fast.  This was just another one of those gentle nudges to remind me that she is doing so, whether I like it or not…