4 Yr. Old Kept From Pre-K Because Of Pink Hair

[JBean]

Well, a Native American fought as far as he could some years back to wear his hair long but he lost. Now, I see boys with hair down to their shoulders in high school. I don't know if this Hispanic girl is dark haired or not, but if she is, I bet her hair is burgundy and not some bright pink, and it may even be highlighted. I don't see that as being extreme, but I'd rather have my child in school. I'd probably dye my hair the brightest pink there is and then continue to pick her up every day, early, volunteer to help out, etc. I think people as a group should fight silly or oppressive rules that are taking our freedoms away.

OMG I love the idea about dying your own hair pink. That is rich.
You know you have really made me stop and think. When my brothers were in high school, long hair was not allowed. My father fought tooth and nail for them to get the respect they deserved and allow them to wear long hair.
He won because my dad was like that.
okay you have given me new perspective. I'll have to ruminate on this some more. thank you.
FWIW...Her hair looks pretty light in the pictures and the pink didn't look to bad.

 

[JBean]

I think the differnce is that my dad did not have my brothers intentionally undermine the rules. they cut their hair and then fought for the right to wear it long. I think this guy is just going about it the wrong way and i still think he is not doing right by his daughter.

 

[southcitymom]

I think the differnce is that my dad did not have my brothers intentionally undermine the rules. they cut their hair and then fought for the right to wear it long. I think this guy is just going about it the wrong way and i still think he is not doing right by his daughter.

I too am all about battling silly or oppressive rules...in many regards, that's the story of my life! But I am 100% in agreement that using a 4-year-old to do this crosses the line. It will harm the child more than win any liberty, IMO.

 

[Mr. E]

Honestly? I think she's better off at home. She's 4 years old. School starts earlier and earlier. I remember when kindergarten was optional. If she were 6 or 7 and missing out on that type of early education, I'd be more upset. But she's four, and in my mind, home is exactly where she needs to be.

I could rant for hours on why kids that age should stay home if at all possible, but here's not the place for it. All I can say is, dye her hair pink and let her stay home.

 

[Autumn2004]

I do see what your saying but is she being worked with at home? I dont plan on using the school system and plan on home schooling with my daughter with textbooks that will allow her to get a high school diploma through a company in ohio, so I know it can be done but will they do it?

 

[nanandjim]

... Just to clarify, I couldn't care less about pink hair, i am looking at the more global issue here, which is if she should be able to ignore the rule.

I agree. This father is setting a bad precedent for his child. It will only hurt her later in life. You have to follow the rules.

 

[Mr. E]

I do see what your saying but is she being worked with at home? I dont plan on using the school system and plan on home schooling with my daughter with textbooks that will allow her to get a high school diploma through a company in ohio, so I know it can be done but will they do it?

Worked for what? She's four. The only work she needs to do is play.

 

[JBean]

Honestly? I think she's better off at home. She's 4 years old. School starts earlier and earlier. I remember when kindergarten was optional. If she were 6 or 7 and missing out on that type of early education, I'd be more upset. But she's four, and in my mind, home is exactly where she needs to be.

I could rant for hours on why kids that age should stay home if at all possible, but here's not the place for it. All I can say is, dye her hair pink and let her stay home.

I agree 100%. I think this is the even bigger issue. I wasn't really even thinking about her age. I think you are absolutelty right.

 

[southcitymom]

Worked for what? She's four. The only work she needs to do is play.

I couldn't agree more! I'm a fan of homeschooling (though we do not do that ourselves) but in these early years, they just need to be having fun and to be exposed to different fun things. Plenty of time for workbooks in the future...

 

[mjak]

My first response to this situation was that a 4 year old should not have dyed pink hair in a school setting. I thought its inappropriate and not conducive to a proper decorum for a succesful school enviornment. Then I thought about this for a while and realized that that resposne comes out of my very traditional middle class upbringing and maybe it needs to be challenged. I decided to look up the town in Texas where this incident has occured and I learned somethings. The town is 75% Hispanic with a huge migrant population. The average family income is 25 thousand a year!! Imagine trying to raise a family on that in the United States in this day and age. These folks deffinitly have a lot more issues in their live to worry about then the color of Their childs hair. I imagine life is very tough for these families, working day labor jobs and trying to hold their families together. I assume they have very little to give their children material things . I imagine if I was in that situation and a simple thing such as pink hair made my 4 year old happy and feeling good about herself for Halloween I might be tempted to let her keep her pink hair indefinitly. I guess what I am saying when cirumstances are such that life is stacked againts you and you want your children to feel good and proud about themselves and a little pink hair brings a smile to childs face is that really so terrible?? When you know the world you are sending that child out in is going to be so difficult do we really have to depribe the child of something as trivial as this ? Maybe we have to realize in a world where hunger and poverty is rampant a little pink hair to boast up a childs self esteem maybe isn't such a bad thing.

mjak

 

[Kymistry35]

At my sons school they expect all the children to be reading when they leave pre-k. If the school is anything like theirs, this time missed may put her behind the other students.

 

[southcitymom]

It is true that American schools are way over-aggressive in this arena at too young an age. My son goes to a private school with excellent "scores" and he wasn't reading at the end of pre-K. But he's had no trouble picking it up in K.

I never went to school until 1st grade, but was reading on my own by age four. Different kids are different. You can't expect them all to pick everything up by the end of preK. Most of them level out by 1st grade in my experience but they get different things at different times before then.

 

[Jessiebell]

Okay I ruminated.

LOL! Cute. Seriously though J Bean - I LOVE a good debate and it is so refreshing to see people like you that really stop and give thought to opposing views rather then just fighting to be right.

 

[JBean]

LOL! Cute. Seriously though J Bean - I LOVE a good debate and it is so refreshing to see people like you that really stop and give thought to opposing views rather then just fighting to be right.

Oh you're sweet. Fact is I'm definitely not always right and I know it LOL! This thread had a nice progression for me with Mr. E making the post of the day IMO.

 

[Jessiebell]

Oh you're sweet. Fact is I'm definitely not always right and I know it LOL! This thread had a nice progression for me with Mr. E making the post of the day IMO.

Yes I agree! Mr. E's post is fantastic. I was just going to comment on that also.

:clap: GREAT post Mr. E!

(I should draw up a post of the day logo for us really quickly)

 

[JBean]

Yes I agree! Mr. E's post is fantastic. I was just going to comment on that also.

:clap: GREAT post Mr. E!

(I should draw up a post of the day logo for us really quickly)

Oh that would be good!
I like the post because my posts were more about the bigger picture for this little girl. Mr E stepped back and looked at an even bigger picture. Love it!

 

[Autumn2004]

Worked for what? She's four. The only work she needs to do is play.

I dont mean textbooks and all that of course but you can have educational fun games and songs. My daughter's favorite thing to do is go to a children's museum near us, Im not talking constantly drilling and believe me she gets plenty of play time but I personally know kids that didnt know their colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) and saying their alphabet before kindegarten. Im not talking kids that are developmentaly delayed either. Just parents who never taught them anything. My daughter loves one on one attention and its easy to make it educational with a little creativity.

 

[angelmom]

Okay, all debate about right and wrong aside, who the hell dyes their 4yo's hair? Are you kidding me?

Putting makeup and frilly dresses on JonBenet was perverse, but pink hair for over 4 months is just cute?

I do not buy that this was the 4yo's choice. What 4yo even thinks pink hair is a possibility? And even if it was, who's the parent? My kids think it would be cool to have black walls in their room and for school to start around 10:30ish after a light brunch, but guess what! It ain't gonna happen.

This is the type of parent who will be encouraging his high schooler to do something really abhorrent to protest the rules, and we'll be wondering what made this kind think she was above authority. THIS is what makes kids think they don't have to obey anyone. THIS is exactly the problem with so many kids today.

Schools are allowed to make rules. Sometimes they seem silly and unnecessary on an individual case-by-case basis; however, in the grand scheme of things it may be entirely necessary to the smooth running of the school. If you don't like it, run for the PTA or the school board and change it. But you don't get to just pick and choose which rules to follow b/c you think some of them are stupid.

This father needs to get over himself and his kid!

 

[southcitymom]

....Are you kidding me?

Putting makeup and frilly dresses on JonBenet was perverse, but pink hair for over 4 months is just cute?

I do not buy that this was the 4yo's choice. What 4yo even thinks pink hair is a possibility? .....

It's just a little streak of pink and the girl first did it with permission for some school performance - at least that's what the articles say.

I can ABSOLUTELY see a 4-year-old girl digging on the idea of pink hair, and I don't think it's comparable in the least to JonBenet's tarted up beauty pageant fare.

 

[txsvicki]

This school is Headstart in Texas. They don't expect them to read by the end of the year, and just teach alphabet, spanish words, colors, write their name, etc. Parents have to qualify according to income, and they really are treated like they are idiots who don't have enough sense to even live because the whole program started out some years back as a program to get migrant farm worker's kids ready for school.