It allowed my kids to cut and style their hair without my input for the first time and hate myself for not allowing it sooner. They haven't stopped smiling all day.

I am one of 8 and grew up in a strict religious household. 8pm bedtimes until we moved out, homeschooling, no friends allowed over, etc. You get the picture.We weren't even allowed to have say in how we looked. The girls could wear skirts but they had to be below our knees. Jeans couldn't be form fitting. If we put on any jeans that were even a little tight my mom would tell us that there isn't any room for the holy spirit. I never questioned why the holy spirit needed room to fit in our pants.Hair length was dictated by our parents. Girls had short hair and the boys all had the same short military style cut. No funky haircuts and no hair coloring. One of my brothers wanted to grow his hair out in the early 90s and argued that Jesus had long hair. My parents cut his hair in his sleep.Most of us turned out well but some rebeled harder than others. 5 of us 8 have tattoos, 6 of us have left the church, and only one has a strong relationship with our parents as an adult. I still talk to my parents but we keep our distance.Anywho, I always said I would never raise my kids the way my parents raised me and I have mostly stuck to that. The one thing that I have had the hardest time letting go of is their appearance. It was beat into me for 18 years that girls and boys who didn't look a certain way would be judged and looked down on. That's hard to shake and even now when I wear makeup I wonder if people think I'm trashy because I heard that all of my life. I have an 11 year old daughter and an 8 year old son. My 11 year old has been begging for an undercut and my 8 year old wants red streaks in his hair. They are on Spring Break and I decided that today would be the perfect time to do it. I surprised them both by taking them to the hair salon today. My son got temporary steaks in his hair that will wash out after 10 to 14 days and my daughter got an undercut. I have never seen them so happy with how they look. They have been using their shared iPad to take pictures of themselves and can't stop looking in the mirror.If people in the community judge them or me for allowing it, so be it. The looks on their faces today makes it all worth it. If they end up hating it then it's just hair! They can get a new style soon enough. via /r/Parenting http://bit.ly/2GBDM3Q