The Last Good Kiss
Every summer my husband, Jack, tries to convince our son, Jackson, to let us shave his head. I don’t know why Jackson never goes for it, half the boys in our neighborhood have a quarter inch of fuzz on their heads all year round and they look great. They also probably have no choice.
For better or for worse, we let Jackson have the final decision when it comes to his appearance. I had the freedom to wear whatever the hell I wanted when I was his age, and I had a ball getting dressed in the morning. (I had a special fondness for orange knee socks and making a ponytail stick out over my left ear.) Accordingly, some days Jackson walks out the door sporting the cunning pajama top/Yankees t-shirt/Texas Longhorns cap ensemble:
During the school year, I’m usually the one who grabs his clothes in the morning and combs his hair before shoving him out the door with a piece of toast in his hand, but now that it’s summer, anything goes. Which means that so far (we’re only on the second day of summer vacation) he’s chosen to spend most of the day in his underpants. I made him get dressed yesterday before his haircut, though.
That’s Franco. He likes to give Jackson what’s known as The Handsome Cut. Franco has a little barber shop on Victoria Street in Santa Barbara; you pay a membership fee and after he cuts your hair he’ll give you a glass of good scotch and a fine cigar. Jackson declined the cigar yesterday, but he got Franco’s last Hershey’s Kiss out of the big glass jar on the counter next to the stash of Playboy magazines.
I love this blog because I feel plopped down in the middle of your life…and it’s funny and real and well-written. Jackson’s face in the haircut picture is great. Thanks for sharing the little details of your family!
Thanks! I’m not much of a social analyst, so details are all I’ve got.
That haircut photo is priceless. And Franco kind of looks like Dustin Hoffman.
I was thinking that, too: Dustin Hoffman should totally play Franco in the movie.
I love Jackson’s fashion sense, btw.
I love that you let him wear whatever he wants and call the shots when it comes to his haircuts.
My mother was the same way when I was small; there is photo documentation proving that I had a pair of red rain boots that I insisted on wearing every day for six months. With a tutu. Over OshKoshBGosh overalls.
It’s a charmed life.
I wish my stylist handed out scotch — I might be able to stand the thought of a haircut, then.
I think Jackson’s handsome even before the Handsome Cut.
I also love that you let Jackson make the choice for his hairstyle. My grandmother, who raised me, always kept my hair in a pixie cut when I was about Jacksons age and there was nothing I wanted more than to be able to wear my hair in pigtails.
With a mother who’s got a history of painstaking and failed attempts to grow out her short hair and a father who, I now read, continually tries to convince him that his parents should shave his head, what kind of doomed, overdetermined tonsorial future is poor Jackson, er, headed for?
Your barber sounds awesome. And that first picture is so intensely cute it hurts. Kid has serious fashion sense!
At the end of 3rd grade my son decided that the year had been so oppressive that he wanted to go to the last day of school with a mohawk–which is just a buzz with fringe. He did it 3 more summers, but not this year. I miss the sight of his fringe flowing in the pool like a mermaid’s locks.
I love the title for this post, as it is one of my favorite books, EVER.
I took my son to the barbershop today, too, and made a face just like Jack! Little boys are so amazing.
Sounds like a spectacular barber shop. Foregoing the cigar was probably a good choice (young lungs…impressionable), but I’m really impressed that Jackson accepted the scotch. Please tell me he drank it neat.
Good boy.
That last photograph looks like some still from a very funny movie. I love old-time barbers.
Hey awesome photo!! Love Jackson’s fashion sense. My mom also let us wear whatever we wanted when we were growing up.. most days I chose to wear a inside out shirt, jeans, or a skirt and a vest made out of fed ex envelope (tyvek) material.. that my mom sewed for me. (Huge rem fan as a high schooler.. Michael stipe had a whole suit made out of it) My mom went to art school as did several of my aunts and uncles and other family members.. I always say let the children dress themselves and have freedom of expression.. it’s way too soon in life that we wear nothing but black.. we look sheek but.. colour is so much more fun!! Your a great mom for letting him dress himself.. My kids do the same.. and sometimes like to wear costumes in the winter instead of real outfits.. Enjoy life every day and have fun with it!!
Sure, that scotch sounds dandy. My hairdresser got me some coffee with Bailey’s in it when I was getting my ponytail slashed off.
When I was growing up, the kids whose heads were shaved were the ones with lice. I’ve never managed to shake that perception.
You MUST explain the Longhorn hat! Austinites needs answers.
Long time reader of your blog and now this. love your stuff.
My two year old wears a pair of hand-me-down yellow rainboots every day, and my four year old often sports mixed-plaids. As long as their comfortable, it makes no difference to me. Though I do have to say, at least Jackson looks stylish in his combo!
I’m so glad I’m not the only Mom out there who lets their kid dress themselves. My logic was and still is, if you can dress yourself you can pick out your own clothes. He has made some odd clothing choices but as long as we’re not going out some place special he can wear it.
Summers in nothing but underwear are the greatest. (We lived in the country, until I was about 9, I did get dressed to go to town) I had to wear the pixie hair because although I longed for ponytails, my fuzzy blonde hair would knot up before it got long enough.
I went to the barbershop with my dad and brother, though, and understand the stack of *ahem* magazines and although we didn’t get cigars, we did all get suckers.
And please, Ms. Kennedy, I want the nerve to chop off all my hair and look as great as you. I’m afraid my face is so big it will take over my head and people will run screaming down the street.
Ah, it’s nice to see that the old Playboy/barber shop tradition contiinues.
Like you, I (well my wife as well, but MOSTLY me) have always allowed the boy (now 9) to choose how he wears his hair. Long or short, it’s up to him. To this day my father continues to comment when my hair starts getting (in his opinion) too long. The way I see it, there are going to be plenty of times when I’m telling him what to do. Why make his choice of hair styles one of those times?