Shaun Groves
There’s a great temptation to romanticize poverty, to cast the poor as saints, especially the little ones.
Look at them, we say, playing so nicely, saying “please” and “thank you”, holding our hands, sitting in our lap, sweet smiling things – always smiling. So good, so cute…not like those kids back home.
But if you were to take the most wonderful child from the streets of some developing nation, buy him a plane ticket and bring him home with you…
If you loved him…
If you were to give him three meals every day, shoes for his feet, a roof over his head, hot water to bathe in, medicine, if you taught him…
If you were to band-aid his skinned knees, shhh his late night fears, hold the tissue when he blows his nose…
If you read him bedtime stories, played cricket in the front yard, showed him how to blow bubbles and ride a bike and use scissors…
If you forgot to put those scissors away…
He’d give himself a haircut…
And he would repay your kindnesses with “My hair yucky like you hair, Dad.”
If he were four. Because four year-olds are so very…four. No matter where they come from.
I know not any thing more pleasant, or more instructive, than to compare experience with expectation, or to register from time to time the difference between idea and reality. It is by this kind of observation that we grow daily less liable to be disappointed. -Samuel Johnson
Amy says:
He is cute!!!! I love his yucky haircut. 😉
Amy says:
I love it, because it’s your kd, not mine. And I smile, because this just means, he is home. 🙂
Katie says:
I hope he doesn’t ride his bike WHILE using scissors… that might lead to more than a haircut.
Katie
lavonda says:
awww… he’s trying to make his hair look like his daddy’s hair! that’s adorable!!! how much must he love you to want to make his hair ‘yucky’ like his daddy’s…
Osann Heisner says:
I Love it!!! 😀
megan says:
The coolest part of this is not “yucky”. It’s “dad”. So blessed by your journey, Shaun. Thanks for challenging me to be uncomfortable with too much.
Ruth Abel says:
That is exactly what I thought too Megan! The “Dad” is the best part.
Sue says:
Well obviously it’s YOUR fault. You didn’t put the scissors away.
Liz Reeves says:
🙂 Love it!
Lindsay says:
That. is. awesome. 🙂
Chris Ames says:
I loved everything about this post.
Kara @ The Chuppies says:
Oh how very real-life this is…
Loved this post.
And we have one too…who is two…and who like to cut up hair and shirts and carpet too.
I love that you are “dad”.
That’s the best part of this post 🙂
holly smith says:
AWESOME!!! Hahahahaha! We have a tactile learner, too 🙂
Jen Guarino says:
God love that boy! Love it!
SingleladyforJesus says:
ahahaha! love it! hehe 4 year olds are so much fun!
Zoë says:
ROFL
My daughter did that once… to her little sister 😉
For him to be a ‘normal’ kid shows you’re doing a good job!
Amy Lynne says:
So funny. He really is adorable.
Donna says:
He is adorable, even with his new ‘do’!
Kelli says:
Ha! You are so right. And I love that they always have a good reason for using the scissors on their hair. One that’s almost difficult to argue with.
If you want to feel better about his self done haircut, check out these photos.
http://minivansarehot.com/2009/05/can-i-just-go-back-to-bed/
We still talk frequently around these parts about how you don’t cut someone’s hair without a hair cutting license. 🙂
Karen says:
OH Kelli…………
Kelli says:
I still can’t laugh about it two years later. It traumatized me forever, I think.
On the plus side, her hair is lovely now…
🙂
Karen says:
HAHAHAHA….but he is going to look adorable with a buzz! Thankfully it is just hair and will grow back! 🙂
Love that he wants to be like you.!!!!!!!
Renee Thornhill says:
So funny!!! I love little boys, they are so witty and honest. God has blessed you with such a sweet child.
Teena says:
Shaun, he is so cute! Love it.
This post convicted me. I have said those words… met international kids and made the comment “these kids are so grateful not like american kids.” Yes… I have.
Talking w/ an LDP from Kenya and she speaks gratitude and life… even though she was raised in the slum.
But I am realizing … it is the heart… not the location.
Thank you!
Grace,
Teena
Kit says:
Ha! 🙂
Amanda says:
This morning I showed Jackson a verse in the Bible where it says God knows the number of hairs on our heads. He made sure to tell his daddy that God didn’t have to count very high to know the number of hairs on his head. Also, I have threatened my son that if he ever cuts his sister’s hair with scissors he will never have a birthday party again. We’ll see if it works. I’m very diligent about hiding scissors but one can never be too careful.
Jason says:
Being real here…I’ve received worse haircuts than that. 🙂
Funny post, dude. And you’re so right on four year olds being four year olds.
JessicaB says:
One of my five year old’s did that once. When we lived in Germany. That sort of makes it a foreign story, right?
She helped her baby brother to a haircut that same day, btw. Two yuckies for the price of one.
Rick Orrell says:
That is so AWESOME that he wants to have his hair lok just like yours!! Even though he went about it the wrong way, gotta give him points for trying…. 🙂
Adam says:
I hope we go to such extreme measure to look like our Father. What a great example of a heart that wants to look more like “dad” and yet can (at times) go about it in a bit of a mischievous way, lol.
carrie says:
Self-inflicted haircut: It’s a rite of passage! He’s very cute.
Jana says:
Sweet boy! And as I was reading it (I cannot make this stuff up), I looked up to see MY 4 year old snipping at his hair. Seriously! Thankfully, it was only one snip (I think). I had always thought I’d escaped that because I have boys and not girls. Well, there ya go.
Kali says:
So true, so four! I have one too- and though he has yet to trim his own hair, all 5 older sibs have had a try!