Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Warning: Safety Scissors do not prevent accidents

Safety Scissors: blunted tips to prevent cutting of little fingers, cuts through felt, construction paper, yarn and ribbon. Oh yeah! And hair!!!

I'm not sure what the fascination is with little kids cutting their own hair. I never did it. Perhaps it was because I learned early on that my hair is hard enough to deal with, let alone with an amateur trimming. Neither my sister nor I cut our own hair as children. I suppose a lot of it has to do with curiosity, but probably also the independent feeling that comes with it. "I know how to use scissors, so why should Mommy or Daddy take me to someone else to cut my hair? I'll just do it myself!" Honestly, I don't know what kids think when they do something like this. The explanation I always hear is, "I wanted to cut my hair." Who knows.

But when a child cuts their own hair, I revert back to the old gun vs. person theory: guns don't kill people, people kill people. I don't know where I stand on this issue, and right now, I don't care where anyone else stands on this issue. But when it comes to kids cutting their own hair, that's the argument, sort of. Is the child responsible for cutting their hair, or is the adult in the room/house responsible for leaving the scissors around? Sure, the child made the decision to cut their hair, but they couldn't have done it if the scissors were put out of reach. Remove the object of temptation, you eliminate the crime. Kinda.

I don't care if the object of temptation was a pair of safety scissors. I know a child is less likely from physically hurting them self with a pair, but that doesn't mean the scissors won't cut things they aren't meant for. If it can cut yarn, it can cut hair. And children aren't too rational. They don't think of consequences beyond a few minutes. You cannot expect a 4-year-old to know not to cut their own hair, or anyone else's hair for that matter. So, who is to blame? Who should have their T.V. privilege taken away? Who should have to sit in the penalty box for as many minutes as they are years old?

Safety scissors are just safer knives. Not a guarantee that they won't be used for their primary purpose. Don't use your hair dryer in the bathtub. Do not ingest household cleaner. Do not leave scissors of any kind near an unattended child.

Common Sense? Apparently not. Now I get to make a "fix-it" appointment with my stylist.

My fearless child, friends and I on Tower of Terror at DCA
 

Website Builder