The school year has begun and with it the drama has begun as well. “Why are you wearing that?”. “What did you do to your hair?”. “So…you didn’t go anywhere this summer?!?!”. By the way…these lovely phrases are not coming from the tots on the playground…they are coming from the mothers.

My daughter is now in high school, thankfully, so I am spared from the treachery of the playground. I am spared the monologues from women about how much they love their child and how their child is the center of their universe, all the while I am watching said king/queen playing chicken with the approaching school bus but she is too busy to notice because she must talk about her new yoga pants while she swings her ponytail and point out how horrible so and so’s dye job is.

You see, since the school year began, I am having the moms coming into the shop, either for an appointment in the salon or just to shop for a new hairspray without a child or ten clinging to her leg. Many of them have been coming in feeling horrible about themselves. Why you ask? Well, I asked them the same question and their answers were all the same…some “mom” on the playground said something to them about their hair…and it wasn’t complimentary. One woman was told her pixie cut made her look like a man…I told her she looked cute because she did. One woman was asked “why did you color your hair? Now you look awful!”. I told her she looked great because she did, a beautiful rich caramel blonde. Then I asked her how big the other woman’s ass was, to which she smirked and I said “there you go…you have a smaller ass than her so she had to pick on something” and then we laughed. Yeah, I said it…sure I always say to be nice…but come on…that was funny.

I have had a few women get a little mad at me because I asked them questions.I apologized if my questions bothered them and explained I was asking the questions so I could pin point exactly what they would need and what product they may like. After a while they warmed up to me and I found out the reason for their initial cold shoulder and shortness with me. Moms in the school yard. Enough said. I can’t stress this enough…ladies…be nice to each other. Just because you are in a school yard doesn’t mean you have to act like a child. Behave yourself, not just because it is the right thing to do, because there are lots of little ears listening to you and little eyes watching your every movement.

Oh…and while we are on the subject…if a woman has one child or twenty, she is a mother and has the same struggles that all mothers have and the same worries and concerns…BE NICE. If you are mad because your ass doesn’t look as nice in your yoga pants as Johnny’s mom’s looks in hers, get off her back and back on the treadmill. Envious of someone’s hair color? Ask what Salon she goes to and tell her how great she looks…maybe her husband didn’t notice and your compliment may save her a day held up in the bathroom with a box of tissue.

Seriously, life puts up enough road blocks…why add to the congestion?