What is an appropriate punishment for cutting a little sister's hair?

I have four children of whom all have gone through the hair cutting thing in the last three years. It's hair, it grows back! Explaining the wrong and why it was wrong is punishment enough for the haircutting I think. The bigger problem is the lying. My oldest, almost seven now, has a problem with this. I first would make sure for yourself that she really isn't lying, could little sister have cut her own hair? If she is, then discussion about why lying is wrong and a timeout untill the truth is told and an apology for lying is alright I think!

But in all things remember that noone parents quite the same and no child takes punishment the same as well!

First, she MUST apologize to her sister. Ask her if she'd like you to pick a family member to create a new style for her??? But realistically, how about making her "earn" the cost of the victim's next haircut (hopefully at a supercuts or something economical). If the little one needs immediate repair to her new "style", then it could be a repayment. Since the cutter is only 4, the way she "earns" will have to be chores that will be compensated by you or other family members. Some suggestions might be cleaning out family members hairbrushes or supervised brushing of sister's hair. As the parent you can adjust the "wage" and chore assignments to fit. Somehow link the punishment to the crime.

I believe the thinking about it should be sufficient punishment. Explain to her how much her sister loves to wear ponytails and how she won't be able to for a very long time now. Ask her how she would feel if someone cut off her pretty hair, and give her some more time to think about it. If she still denies doing it, and you have no proof, she may be telling the truth. Little sisters have been known to cut their own hair.

My oldest daughter did that same exact thing about 6 months ago, my little one's hair is still too short for a ponytail =(. What I did was give her a "timeout" where she had to clean up her and her sister's room by herself, she didnt' get her noon t.v. time or a snack after lunch. Sure it might not seem like much but for a child who has a routine everyday they get upset when they don't get what they're used to. A little later after it had happened I went to my sister's so she could fix the "bad do" and she had to stay here with her dad instead of going over and playing with her cousin. Just remember that the little things to us might seem like big ones to the little ones, so just think of small things you might can have her do, or take away a special time and just explain it to her. Good luck!!!

When my daughter was just two she cut her own hair all the way to the scalp on the front. There was no fixing it. But we explained to her that only the ladies at the hair cutting place can cut her hair. She understands that. But her and my grand daughter are both four now and we have alot of problems with the lying. No one admits to any wrong doing. It is really driving me crazy.

Sounds like she has the making of a seriously cute bob style. Get a curling iron and lightly turn the ends under to give it a nice polished look. Make her feel extra special by using a light transparent sparkly powder on her face or use one of your lip glosses on her, anything from an older sis will help her feel better about the change. During the grow out stages be sure she is using a conditioner to help with the tangles to keep mom from chopping it all off again. Also, you could tell her about how all the super models change their hairstyles every month, what the heck, it grows back!

Make her give up something equally as important to her. Give her a choice of several things --like a favorite DVD, Doll, her own hair gettting cut etc. Talk with her about each one and then when she decides, follow through--and do not give it back until her sister's hair has grown in. This will give her a chance to see, long term what she did--afterall, her timeout will end in a few minutes, but her sisters hair will take months to come back. you need to be fair to both of them.

It's all simply a matter of personal preference. We have short hair and guys such as it. And i prefer a man with short hair over a person with long hair because long hair tends to make guys look as well girly.

You can't give a four year old time out the whole day that is to extreme. I would send her to her room to think about it then talk about it with her for awhile and make her apologize. I don't think she realized the permanence of her actions when she did this. Also her scissor usage should have been supervised by you so it is partly your fault.

I would say time out the whole day if your a stay at home mom. No desert for a couple of weeks. No televison no coloring. Nothing that she likes. If you let her do those thing then maybe she will think it's alright. For lying about it you should extend those pushiments by a week.