This isn’t a huge issue, but thought I’d get some other opinions on it.
[name_f]My[/name_f] 17 month old has beautiful hair - my husband is Egyptian with tight, tight black curls, and I have brown, wavy hair. Somehow, [name_m]Leonidas[/name_m] got blonde hair, but he also got gorgeous loopy curls. He’s still young, so his hair is still thickening, so often times it gets frizzy by the end of the day, or after he naps.
I don’t do anything to it, unless we’re going out then I spritz some water on it, tussle it up, and it goes into lovely defined curls.
The problem is my husband’s mother - I’ve shown her a few times how to do his hair (if they are going out), but she frequently douses it in water, and slicks it down. They sometimes have him overnight, or for a day or two, and when I see pictures from their visit with him a few days later, he constantly has his hair damp and flattened, and he looks ridiculous.
[name_f]My[/name_f] husband told me years ago that his parents used to do this to his hair when he was younger too - he thought it had something to do with them being immigrants, and wanting their children to look more “white” and not so “ethnic”. In fact, his dad STILL does a comb-over on himself - which obviously looks ridiculous. Their hair is NOT designed for comb overs!
I obviously have a big problem with this. No one would mistake my son to be part Arab - he didn’t inherit the dark hair, or the dark skin, but even if he had, I certainly wouldn’t be trying to hide it. By her flatten his hair, I feel like she’s disrespecting my wishes, but also setting a horrible example for my son - like he should be ashamed of how his body is - and it’s just his hair!
So I guess my question is - should I say something to her, or just leave it alone? Basically his parents disagree with all aspects of how we’ve chosen to raise [name_m]Leonidas[/name_m] (not circumcised, not vaccinated, no traditional medicines, etc.) so there are definitely bigger issues that we’ve dealt with, but this is one of the few that will keep recurring basically forever - and it’s visible.
What do you think?