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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to tell ds1 that if I don't cut his hair well enough, he can pay for himself to go to a shop!

26 replies

cazboldy · 06/07/2008 19:16

that's it basicallly!

I cut dh's and ds1 and ds2's hair myself with clippers.

ds1 is complaining, that I am rubbish.

Basically he complains that whatever I do is rubbish, whether it's cooking, helping him with homework, well the list goes on and on.....

anyway tonight i have had enough, and told him that if I am so rubbish, he can pay for his own haircut at a shop of his choice.

AIBU?

He will be 12 in October

OP posts:
Twelvelegs · 06/07/2008 19:17

I think you should pay for his hair cut, he probably wants to look nice at 12 and a home clippered cut is not nice enough for him.

Twelvelegs · 06/07/2008 19:18

PS. Perhaps you could allow him to earn it, so you don't lose face, by a couple of chores.

SqueakyPop · 06/07/2008 19:20

With my DS's, I give them £12 for a hair cut (the price the barber charges) - then I offer to do it for £2, and they can keep the rest.

They usually choose the professional route

SqueakyPop · 06/07/2008 19:20

With my DS's, I give them £12 for a hair cut (the price the barber charges) - then I offer to do it for £2, and they can keep the rest.

They usually choose the professional route

notjustmom · 06/07/2008 19:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hulababy · 06/07/2008 19:32

TBH I think it is not unreasonable for him to want a well cut haircut - unless you are a trained hairdresser, thenn it may be different I guess. But even then he probably would prefer someone other than his mum cutting his hair.

At 12 he will be learning all about street cred and image - it is important to them at that age.

brimfull · 06/07/2008 19:34

yabu

pay for a decent cut for him

looks are important at 12yr

TeacherSaysSo · 06/07/2008 19:37

yabu i'm afraid 12yrs old is old enough to want to look cool. There's plenty of boys and girls at my school who are already bleaching and gelling their hair - not that you want to go that far of course...but it puts a home made basin cut into perspective!

aGalChangedHerName · 06/07/2008 19:37

FGS pay for a decent haircut!!

Does he have a job? No well it's up to you to pay for it then.

HappyMummyOfOne · 06/07/2008 20:27

I think you should pay for him to get it done too, I wouldnt expect a child to have to pay for their hair to be cut.

colditz · 06/07/2008 20:29

I think you should take him to get his hair cut properly and pay for it. I don't mean you should tolerate rudeness, but children grow out of home hair cuts and it isn;'t fair to foist it onto them.

Anna8888 · 06/07/2008 20:30

I think you should expect to pay for a 12 year old to have a proper haircut.

Hairdressing is a skilled job for a reason

Flamesparrow · 06/07/2008 20:30

Would YOU get your hair cut by a mate who has a pair of scissors or pay for a proper cut?

VictorianSqualor · 06/07/2008 20:36

I agree with everyone else, unless he just wants a number 1 all over or something then it's off to the hairdressers, with you paying.

Cryptoprocta · 06/07/2008 21:58

My Mom, by her own admission, had wonky eyesight. In childhood photographs my siblings and I all have fringes that slope the same way at the same angle

She once promised me £10 if she could cut my fringe, against my better judgment. She tried to do it straight by using sellotape to create a straight line, and just cut it along that. But I think she put the sellotape on at an angle, because it didn't make any difference.

At least she didn't use a Fray Bentos tin and a biro

Yeah, get him a proper haircut. But as for his other snidey remarks, he needs taking in hand regarding that. He needs to try making his own dinner, so his efforts can be torn apart. Men/Boys seem to understand better when they are put in the other side of a situation. Unless he turns out to be natural chef and blows your cooking out of the water. Then just make him cook every night

cheesesarnie · 06/07/2008 22:00

yabu.i agree with other posters-let him go get it cut.but i cant talk.my children look like hippys.(but theyre happy!)

TheSmallClanger · 06/07/2008 22:01

Definitely let him have a salon haircut. Most people do and if it stops one bit of moaning, the better for it.
In view of the other snarkiness, I think that demanding a few chores done in exchange for money for said haircut is perfectly reasonable.

PeaMcLean · 06/07/2008 22:04

Let him get a professional haircut like his mates but I'd be about the constant complaining about everything else.

perhaps he could do his own cooking???

Original poster
cazboldy · 07/07/2008 10:43

Just to clarify, I don't just hack it off. I do a nice haircut with it a bit longer on top, shorter around the sides, and blended in.

I am not a hairdresser, but my sil is, and she showed me how to do it.

He has been to a hairdressers before, but he only wants the same thing done, and i really can't see the point.

My point was about his general grumpiness, and disgust at whatever I try to do for him, and this was the final straw....

If he really wants to go, I will take him, in return for him walking the dog each night.

OP posts:
bobblehat · 07/07/2008 10:54

If your sil is a hairdresser, will she do it for him? My 2 ds's like going to the barbers so they can admire themselves in the mirror, even though my sil is a hairdresser and will do it in the kitchen for them for nothing

Maybe if you give in to this one thing it might help with the other stuff

Original poster
cazboldy · 07/07/2008 10:59

she lives in London, and we are in rural Norfolk, and she doesn't come to visit often enough

OP posts:
bobblehat · 07/07/2008 11:03

Where abouts? we're moving there in the next few weeks.

In that case let him earn it. Taking the dog for a walk seems fair

Original poster
cazboldy · 07/07/2008 11:08

At the moment Right on the Norfolk /suffolk border, about 5 miles from a town called Bungay. But in about 6 weeks we will be moving about 6 miles away, to a tiny village nearer Long Stratton

Where are you moving to?

OP posts:
bobblehat · 07/07/2008 11:14

Alysham, so quite far north of you. Dh just started new job in north walsham - sorry for the hijack!

Tortington · 07/07/2008 11:16

kids want it done 'proper'

give him the £8 FGS