First Freaky Friday

Posted by kara

Toshi’s new school has a Freaky Friday once a month. You pay a dollar to do participate in Crazy Hat Day or Pajama Day. Today was Crazy Hair Day. Now, Toshi has had a few dress up days at her old school. One was Cat in the Hat Day and you were supposed to wear fun mismatched clothes. Some kids went all out, and Toshi wore a conservative striped dress with some striped leggings. She was careful not to look too crazy. (That is how I would have been as a kid.) I remember feeling a little disappointed that she was growing up and starting to care what others thought. In preschool she would wear her hair in 3 pigtails because that is how she liked it. I loved that.

Anyway, back to Freaky Friday. This morning she wore 3 pigtails, a blue hair braid clip-on, a big pink flower clip, a big bow clip, and tons of little clips placed all around her head. It was silly and made me laugh, but I was happy she was participating at full force. She worried a little about looking too silly, so I texted Keira’s mom and asked if Keira was also doing Crazy Hair Day. She was. When I dropped off Toshi at school, I did not see a single kid with crazy hair. As a teacher helped her out of the car, the teacher was very enthusiastic about Toshi’s hair. It made me wonder if no one else was doing it! I watched as Toshi walked into school and felt my heart race and my stomach tie up in knots. Would others have crazy hair? Would she feel embarrassed? Would she have the confidence to wear her hair how she wanted? Would she know how to pull out the clips? Have I emotionally prepared her enough for this?

I know it’s pretty silly to worry about Crazy Hair Day. (Maybe I’m in overdrive since I’m finishing a book about girl bullies.) I realize I’m still growing as a parent. In my head, I know these are small situations she needs to face to grow ready for bigger situations. But in my heart I just want to protect her from any uncomfortable feeling. I really hope I look back on this and think, “Wow, we’ve come a long way and now I’m not so worried about her facing difficult situations.” Thank goodness college is still over a decade away.