Monday, December 27, 2010

So my son got in late last night, and he will be here until Thursday or Friday. He's partly here because of the holiday, and he's partly here to attend a two-day Washington Wizards basketball camp on Tuesday and Wednesday. As usual, it seems like he's grown two or three inches (he's about 5'6") and he seems to be in the embryonic stages of puberty because his voice is a bit more husky and he's slimmed down a bit. But there is one thing that is still an issue, and that is his hair.

Now earlier this year he told me he wanted to grow his hair out a bit to grow cornrows, and I vehemently disagreed with it, but his mother shut me down, which she can do because he lives there and now with me. I saw my son with insanely long hair a couple of times, and I cringed, but I had to respect he and his mother's decision, so I did. I even took him to the barbershop to trim his 'fro, out of support. But last night he walked into my house looking like Eric Benet in 1996. The fro has been replaced by little baby twists, and I just think it looks hideous, but of course he likes it.

In my terribly biased opinion, my son (until he's 16) should not have a say on certain things (piercings, tattoos, the amount spent on shoes and grooming, etc). This is the way my father raised me, and I saw not a damn thing wrong with it. When I was 16 and a senior in high school, my father let me experiment with haircuts (luckily no pictures exist), and that's exactly what I did, and it was fair. I had no such autonomy at age 13..I had to get my haircut every two weeks, whether I liked it or not, and those were the rules. My father could enforce those rules because he was there every day (as was my mother).

Unfortunately for me (and my son), I don't have custody of young Carlton, which means my wishes and desires get pushed by the wayside--until he comes to stay with me of course. I want to cut that b.s. out of his hair so badly, but I know that a)he'll be pissed (I don't really care about that) and b) his mother will be even more pissed (that's a lot harder to ignore). But I feel strongly enough about this to risk both of those things..I think

Sorry to rant so early, but its on my mind..

2 comments:

Julie Johnson said...

Hi Rashad! Congratulations to you and Renita on your recent marriage. My husband and I are very close with Arlene and Aubrey, two of our dearest friends. We hear a lot about you two, and also Nicole and Derek. Please give our love to Renita and to Nicole and best of everything to you both. We've heard a lot about Arlene's girls. Your blog is great too by the way!
All best wishes for a happy and healthy 2011 - and a long and wonderful life together.
Julie & Paul

£ said...

ha! so many memories with this coltrane song. gee whiz. lol

and im with you regarding the clothing/hair/tattoos thing. of course when i was your son's age i would vehemently disagree. lol