When life hands you scissors, create a stacked bob

I am learning to balance my natural desire towards a "hoovering parenting style"with Lily's desire for independence. I can see she is at the point, where she probably won't choke on a random object found on the floor. I think she knows better than to try jumping out a window from a moving vehicle or a second floor. She always buckles herself in, correctly. These are the things. Things that change my child from a baby to a growing up kind of girl.

And I want her to have room to grow.

And I can not force her to live in my bubble (or can I?)

I know better. I do.

But the other night she went to blow out a taper candle after dinner and

HER HAIR STARTED UP IN FLAMES.

I was right there and I started smacking her head till they were gone.

And she started to cry.

Our house filled with the foul smell of burnt hair.

I calmly hugged her.

Normally when this kind of dramatic meltdown from Lily happens, I try to end it quickly.

This time I let her cry until she could cry no more. I held her. I loved her.

When she was calm we talked about fire safety.

And then I helped her take a shower to wash this near tragedy away.

And then I combed her hair.

And then I WENT CRAZY.

And I got a scissors.

And I started cutting her hair.

I was really bad at it.

And yet I couldn't stop.

My superhero calmness left me once everything was actually ok.

I had my moment of panic. The sight of her head in flames. The thought of how fragile life really is, and the "what if thoughts", and the need to fix what had just happened took over me like a lunatic.

Forgive me.

In that moment I wanted to prevent what happened already and what ever might ever happen again.

I thought I was controlling this destiny via scissors.

The next day I took her to a hair salon to fix what I had done. She is now sporting a stacked bob cut. And she LOVES it. And so do I! She looks very grown up (as you can see), it is both sophisticated and spunky, like her.

There are no more tangles. NONE.

This is life changing for us.

All of this is life changing for us.

BTW, in the event I had to yet to report this on the blog...

I LOVE Lily Lowe. With my whole heart and my whole being.

From her determination to her curls.

Lily continues to teach me more than I ever knew I could learn in a lifetime.

I see parents are both the teachers and the students in the classroom of life.