Rapunzel Man

One of our children has the habit of twirling his hair around his finger. He also has an aversion to the notion he may one day grow chest hair. It's NOT going to happen to him. So just to get his ire up a bit at dinner, we'll say: "Eat this spicy salsa. It'll put hair on your chest!" or "Want some ice cream?  It'll put hair on your chest." Not a tiding of good will to him!

So one particular dinner conversation was especially amusing to our family. It went something like this:

Little guy twirling his hair with one hand, eating dinner with the other.

"You're going to have cuuurrrllls!" a sibling teases.

He grins and twirls more.

"Wait until he gets old and twirls his CHEST hair!"

Little man grimaces.

"Yeah, his really LONG chest hair!"

"What if it was like Rapunzel, except instead of long hair--long CHEST hair!"

Little man giggles.

"Rapunzel Man!"

"A fair princess would call to him high in his tower, 'Rapunzel Man! Rapunzel Man! Let down your long, curly chest hair!'

"And then Rapunzel Man would toss his long, fair, golden chest hairs out the window to the fair maiden below and be rescued."

The vision this gave us had us all chortling, even anti-chest hair boy.

So why eat dinner as a family? It certainly takes some rush and planning to get it on the table before everyone is off to their different activities. Some Many of the conversations can even get a bit...silly. Yet amidst the rush to get something semi-nutritious, semi-liked/tolerated by some on the table, little conversations and memories are made, hopefully binding our family with feelings of love, acceptance, warmth, and happiness. Yep, Rapunzel Man is welcome at our family meals any day---as long as he keeps his fair, curly chest hair under control!