Mommy, Can I shave my legs???????

Okay, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Now that I have gotten that out of my system........My baby girl, age eleven, going into sixth grade, wants to shave her legs. She is not all that hairy, and the hair on her legs is blonde. That being said, I think it about the right time. At first, when your little girl asks this question, you see her in diapers again. You see her taking her first steps. You see her at age three with the little page boy haircut. You see her cutting her own bangs at that same age, right down to the scalp. She is my little girl. My only girl. My baby angel.

Now, I have to take stock in the entire situation. Most girls her age have either already started shaving their legs, or will some time in sixth grade. I have asked all the girls in our youth group, every mom I know and reflected on my own past. My mother was a teacher at the school I attended K-8. She was also my math and english teacher grades 5-8. This experience scarred me for life. And no, I am not kidding. Add to the equation that it was Catholic school and the pieces all fall neatly into place. All I wanted to do was fit it. All most of the kids there wanted to do was torture my middle school psyche. So I have some clue as to what it is like to be the odd girl out. It sucks beyond measure. There are no other words for it.

So, tomorrow, on my morning off, I will go buy my little girl a razor ( I have a coupon), and on Wednesday, when I have the whole day off and can repair my emotional spirit, I will sit on our bathroom counter in my bathing suit, and she in hers, and I will teach my child how to shave her legs. I will not do what my mother did and just hand me a Daisy pink razor of death and send me off to the showers. I will show her how to be careful around the knees and the outside of your ankle (I still bear the scars of countless scrapings there). I will teach her with soap, not shaving cream. There is always soap in the shower, rarely have I seen shaving cream. She will learn that once you start, you have to keep up this little habit the rest of your life or until your ninth month of pregnancy. Then you just go hairy and don't care.

Anyone out there know what I am talking about? Share the love and pass the bandaids.

God bless you and yours.