This was too long for Twitter, but too important to not share, so I am resurrecting the blog!
Tomorrow is Wacky Hair Day at the childrens' school. Wacky Hair Day is always a big event around our house. The kids love to colour their hair, paint it, tease it, put it in piggies and pony tails. Even The Boy with his short hair has gotten into the act, with patterns shaved into it, or mohawks. This year is no different. The Girl is geared up with elastics and clips. The Boy has the longest hair he has ever had - we spiked it today with gel and everything.
The Boy made a different decision this afternoon, though. We had been toying with the idea of cutting his puffy, spiky hair and returning to his typical short buzz cut. He's had the extra hair for a couple of months, and while he fit in with the local wildlife, it was getting a little unruly.
In the meantime, the school has presented the purpose of this Wacky Hair Day to the children. One of teachers and a few others are taking part in the World's Greatest Shave 2010 (
www.worldsgreatestshave.com/about), a fundraiser to raise money for Leukemia research and services. The whole school has gotten involved. The kids are bringing in gold coins to shed their uniforms for the day and wear their own clothes and donations will be accepted in order to colour their hair as well. If the school reaches their goal of $4000(!), the teacher will shave his head. There are some older children having their hair shaved as well. All of this will go down at Friday's weekly parade (that would be assembly for you Canucks).
Well, The Boy has taken the message to heart - not only has he shaved his head tonight, but he has decided to donate the entire contents of his piggy bank to the cause. Cancer causes hit home in our family right now, as we have a close family member who has been going through a very serious battle with a not so good prognosis. When discussing the consequences of donating his life savings (ok, so only 7 months' worth, but it was just over $80), he was adamant that he wanted to help the kids with cancer who don't have hair and his Aunt back in Canada who was sick with Cancer. We explained that it was too late for his money to help his Aunt, but maybe another family could be helped by his donation.
What can a mom say? I am so proud that he has come up with this idea on his own, and a little bit surprised. He has been pretty proud of himself with his piggy bank, earning coins for chores around the house (or pulling teeth out!), using it to buy candy or trinkets when we go out. When I told him that this means he won't have any money left, he insists that that's ok, he'll just work hard to earn more!
These are the lessons we try to teach our kids - thank goodness that this one appears to be sticking!
