Monday, January 23, 2012

Scary Beards

Alia doesn't want to talk to Papa or hug him or let him kiss her.

A few weeks ago, Alia mentioned to her mommy that "beards are scary." Oh. Gary grew his winter beard to keep his face warm when he's walking outdoors in the wind. And that's about when Papa changed from a super guy to Someone To Be Ignored.

Alia doesn't have much to do with Uncle Philip either. He too "has a scary beard." Come to think of it, she's not real keen on Pastor either.

Pogonophobia.



When it's time for Gary to shave off his beard in another two months, I think he ought to let Alia watch him do it. Might it help? Or is there no reasoning with an unreasonable fear?

6 comments:

  1. Zoe loves pastor, though. She can't get enough of watching him, especially in vestments.

    I don't know about the unreasonable fears. Especially when everything's fine and then she comes up with "such and such is scary" and then proceeds to get herself worked up and scared about it.

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  2. John shaved his beard off when our oldest two were about 1 and 3. The 3 year old wanted to know what he did with her daddy and the one year old who was excited to hear daddy's voice from the other room would have nothing to do with the beardless man.

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  3. Julie, I think I heard the same story from the Koch household, once upon a time when Aaron shaved. Gary's comes and goes depending on the season. I can't imagine John with a naked face!

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  4. It is hard to imagine. I think there was only one other time when he was clean shaven and that was for a very short period of time.

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  5. John accidentally shaved his after a horrible trimming accident :) when the kids were little. He had had this beard for our entire marriage. I don't remember any comments beyond, "Oh, Daddy's beard is gone." But, although little, they were older than Alia. I wonder if it's the appearance or the texture? I know I didn't like the feel when my dad grew a scratchy beard. Of course, John is different.

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  6. I wondered about the scratchiness too, but that wouldn't explain her aversion to Pastor's beard. It would be interesting to know what instigated the beard-fear. A movie? Some pictures in a book? A nasty-looking bearded person at the store or in the car next to theirs?

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