'"Mum, do I have a monobrow?": The innocent question that threw me'
Daughter: Mum, can I talk to you? It’s important.
Me: Sure darling, what’s up?
Daughter: Ummmm, do I have a monobrow?
It’s Wednesday night, 9pm, and my nine-year-old throws me a curly one. Or rather, a hairy one.
Me: Where’s this coming from?
Daughter: One of the girls at school was teasing me about it today.
The little girl was teased about her eyebrows by someone at her school. iStock
Let me at her, I wanted to say!
Instead, I took a deep breath.
Daughter: So, do I?
Me: Darling we all have hair in places we don’t want. The question is, did it bother you before the teasing?
I thought my deflection was genius, but she wasn’t having a bar of it. She wanted to know if she had a monobrow and could she get rid of it.
Holy Moly. I miss the days of "are we there yet?" and "what’s for dinner?"
Now, those questions I could answer.
While the mother's beauty routine is extensive, she is reluctant to pluck her daughter's eyebrows. iStock
These ones, Pandora's Box to say the least.
She knows I wax, shave, laser… if there’s a de-fluffing device I’m all over it.
I colour my hair, whiten my teeth and so much more... but let’s keep a little mystery, shall we.
So, how do I explain to my tween that a few stray hairs should probably stay put?
Why is it ok for her to pierce her ears but not pluck a few hairs?
Because if we start with plucking, what’s next?!
The mother says her daughter is being teased by a "mean girl" at her school. Paramount Pictures
So, while it’s breaking my heart that a pre-teen mean girl is making my daughter doubt herself, I’ve told her we need to pause for a sec.
It’s not just a question of sticks and stones. It’s a lesson in self-worth.
One day, if my little girl decides to attack those gorgeous brows with a mini whipper snipper, so be it…but not today.
And certainly not because a pint-sized playground princess says so.
Today, we suck it up and take it on the chin.
Because we’re better than that.
Score card:
Hair – one
Tweezers - none
