Most parents are operating on one simple truth: We just want what's best for our kids. We want them to grow, learn, and be independent, but a lot of us would happily wave a magic wand and make the lives of our kids as easy as possible if we could.
One mom recently shared on Reddit that she's found herself in a bit of hot water, which started boiling after she made the decision to wax her 5-year-old's eyebrows before school starts this year. If you're outraged, I get it — let's get into the story.
The mom explains that her daughter was being teased by her cousins about her unibrow.
"So my five year old daughter has a pretty thick dark unibrow, that is very noticeable," the mom wrote. "Because of [the health crisis], her preschool was online, therefore she was never bullied for having it. However this past summer her cousins came over to visit and many of them teased her for her unibrow."
The girl's cousins were really, really mean.
The cousins were brutal.
"They'd call her countless names, and at just five years old my daughter already thinks she is ugly," the mom explained. "It breaks my heart because nobody (let alone a five year old) should think they are ugly. I reassure my daughter she is beautiful and not to listen to her cousins, but my daughter still believes she is ugly."
Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like anyone stopped to explain to the cousins that the way our bodies are naturally is beautiful. And it doesn't seem like anyone told the cousins that radical self-love is the most powerful gift.
The mom grew concerned that her daughter would be teased at school this year.
"In a week she is starting kindergarten, and I really do not want the bullying to get worse there. So yesterday I took it in my hands to wax her unibrow. I didn't shape them or anything just waxed the middle off to get rid of her unibrow."
Her daughter loved it.
Her daughter was happy with the results, but at the age of 5, it's not easy to explain the many layers of what's actually going on.
"My daughter was elated looking in the mirror and calling her self so pretty," the mom said. "It warmed my heart to see her so confident in herself, but I made sure to remind her she was beautiful both ways."
The woman's husband came home and was super angry about what happened. "When my husband came home my daughter was so excited to show him her eyebrows. In front of her he called her beautiful but after she left we had a huge fight."
In fact, her husband was really, really mad.
"He said it was horrible of me to be subjecting my five year old daughter to beauty standards," the mom noted. "And that at such a young age im pushing it on her, instead of telling her she is beautiful the way she is. And no five year old should be waxing their eyebrows, and im pushing the mentality that she is only beautiful without her unibrow. And that my daughter is too young to know what she wants and she should have been able to make her decision to wax it off when she is old enough."
The mom says she gets it, but she was also just worried. "I truly understand all the points he has made, however my daughter told me she wanted to get rid of her unibrow. And I didn't want her to grow up with the bullying and teasing and blame me because i could have prevented it."
So the mom asked Reddit who was really in the wrong.
One woman immediately jumped in and said she understood: "I, a female, have very dark and thick arm and leg hair. I got called half-ape all through elementary. I would come home and cry for an hour daily. Mom offered to me that I could wax. I did. It helped my self esteem. Now that I'm in my 20's I've just stopped caring. I have more important things to worry about. But I still think my mom did that right thing."
In fact, a lot of people seem to get it.
A lot of women jumped in to say they understood completely.
"I am the type of European that has that classically thick and fast growing hair," one commenter said. "I got made fun of for my arms, unibrow, and leg hair at a very young age. I was very insecure about it and had many kids in elementary be super harsh.
"Anyway, because of that, my mom showed me at a very young age how to handle a razor and the safest way to shave my legs. Never let me use it unsupervised, but would set up a water bucket for me so she could watch I was being careful. I can’t even begin to explain how grateful I was for that. Also was allowed to pluck my unibrow."
In fact, some think it's great the mom took things into her own hands.
"It's a [expletive] good thing Mom did this before the 5 year old decided to take a razor to her own face and do it herself," one person noted. "Its extremely common for kids to alter their appearance when told No. From cutting hair to putting on makeup, and SHAVING UNWANTED BODY HAIR. It could have been soooooo bad."
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
