Little sister Ela has been nagging for ages for a trip to the hairdressers to cut a fringe (My offer for a free trim wasn’t tempting I guess…). Her persistence was slightly irritating. So, her wish was Mummy’s command and within an hour she was sat satisfied on the sofa with her new fringe perfectly framing her cutely chubby face.
The image of satisfaction faded after a while (a while being 20 mins), and a single melodramatic tear proved that the inevitable had happened: She didn’t want a fringe any more. And her reason being ‘people won’t like it in school’.
This shocked me, to say the least. My 8 year old little sister was already fearing what others think of her. This just isn’t right.
At her age, I lived outside. Constantly in the park, all grubby and muddy, not giving a damn what others thought of me. Ela shouldn’t be feeling pressured by others to look like what they wanted her to look.
So I sat her down for a sisterly chat, and wiped her tears.
Big Sister Tip #1 : Do you. If you can’t be you, who else can you be? You’re imperfectly unique and special. Those who truly love you will accept you no matter what you look like.
And smile, always.
Llio Angharad 