Life Lessons Start Early

Kenneth Wagner is doing his kindergarten stepson no favors. The five year old supposedly decided to have a star shaved into his head as a fan of the Dallas Cowboys who are 9 and 1. The five year old said he wanted to keep it until they lost a game.

Now first off, I question whether this was the five year old's idea in the first place or perhaps someone older--like his father perhaps. It doesn't really matter I suppose but the problem started when he showed up at his school with his head shaved except for the start.

Justin was told he would have to return home and stay there until the star was removed. It seems the district has a policy concerning such matters.

Now any parent with half a brain would have said "No," at the outset. But someone didn't and Justin is paying the price. The issue though has nothing to do with haircuts. The issue has everything to do with what Wagner is teaching his step-son at this early age.

"He has the right to individuality and to present himself. I don't want the school to dictate that."

What seems like a silly matter just became a life issue for Justin. His father just taught him He that there really isn't such a thing as "authority" that should be respected simply because it is "authority." He learned instead that one's individuality trumps all else; the heck with rules.

And so the step father emasculated the school system for this five year old setting him up for future rebellion. And what happens when little Justin is 15 instead of 5 and now his "individuality" (above his father's rules) demands that his girl friend is allowed to sleep over and smoke pot together? If individuality is good enough to trample adult authority at the school, it's good enough to trample parental authority in the home.

It seems like a minor thing--a haircut--and it is. But allowing a five year old to trample on adult authority in the name of individual expression is sowing seeds for a poisonous future.

Nice going Mr. Wagner; look for a harvest a few years down the road; then look in the mirror and say, "You asked for it!"