Let Your Kids Grow Their Hair

What year is it? Do we really still have to be having this discussion about gender stereotypes? Apparently, the answer is yes. For whatever reason, there are still millions (billions?) of people that have very set standards for each gender. Girls play with dolls, boys play with cars and trucks. Girls do the cooking, boys play in sports. On and on you can go, and people actually believe this.

We’ve definitely made strides against gender bias in this country, and in many other countries across the globe, but there is still a really long way to go. We’ve previously written about letting your child paint their nails if they want, male or female. We recently heard from a few parents about stories of how they’re being scolded for letting their child grow their hair out - it shouldn’t be so long for boys apparently.

Considering the year, this seems really crazy. Males have been growing their hair out long for quite some time. It’s one of the trends these days to have long hair among males. There’s nothing that says only females can grow their hair out long. Hair is simply one more thing that people are using in a gender war for some reason. Does it really matter if your son has their hair down to their shoulders or longer?

In fact, long hair among boys is actually quite popular these days and can honestly look really good. If your child’s hair will grow out long, and they take care of it, then let them grow it out if they want. Some people like long hair, and they’re willing to take care of it - more power to them. Unfortunately, there are those whose hair simply doesn’t look good when it’s grown out long - they have to live with short hair.

If you’re strongly against long hair for whatever reason, then that’s fine. That’s your position that you can take. However, just because you believe that doesn’t mean that you should force that opinion on to other people. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else should agree with you. Don’t demean your friends or family because they let their child grow their hair out.

Surely at some point in the future we won’t have to discuss these topics about gender bias. While there are certainly things that boys do and girls do simply because of their bodily makeup, almost everything should really be acceptable regardless of your gender. We live in a world where you’re welcome to identify as whatever you’d like basically, and that should be absolutely acceptable to everyone.

As you raise your child, teach them to be accepting of whatever decisions other people make. It’s not about forcing them to grow their hair long (or keep it short) or painting their nails or not. It’s all about teaching them to accept people for who they are no matter what. Teach them that every person chooses to live their life differently. We may not agree, but we accept them for who they are.

Let your child grow their hair out if they want. Let other kids do the same. It won’t destroy who they are - it may actually help them understand better who they are.