Kidz Corner:The Hair Thief

Valerie was very worried about her daddy. For some time now she had noticed he was going bald. It seemed like every time she looked at him he had less hair than before. One day she rather boldly asked him, “Daddy, every day you have less hair. Why is that?”Her father smiled and said,“It’s the hair thief. Around here there’s a little pilferer, and he visits my head during the night when I’m asleep. The thief he pulls out my hairs one by one. And there’s no way to catch him!” Valerie was worried and she was determined to help her daddy. That very night she stayed awake. As soon as she heard the first snuffles of her father’s snoring she grabbed a hammer and went straight to her parents’ bedroom. She slowly tiptoed in careful not to make any sound. She didn’t want the hair thief to hear her come into the bedroom. When she arrived at her father’s side she began watchfully inspecting his head, determined to catch the hair thief as soon as he appeared. She saw a shadow on her daddy’s head and, with all the very last ounce of her strength, she swung the hammer down. Thwack! Her father let out an enormous yelp and in a single movement leapt out of bed. The lump on his head was already big, and growing. Trembling with shock, he turned the light on, and saw Valerie brandishing her hammer in the air. “I nearly got him, Daddy! I thought I hit him, but it looks like he escaped!”Meanwhile, all the commotion had woken Valerie’s mother up. Seeing the lump on her husband’s head, she burst out laughing. “Well, that’s what happens when you tell silly stories,” she said, highly amused.So Valerie’s father had to explain to her that the hair thief didn’t exist and that going bald is something that just happens naturally to most daddies. He sat, with a huge lump on his head, realizing just how important it is not to tell children tall tales. And Valerie still worried about her daddy, but she no longer lay in wait for the hair thief. Instead, she bought her daddy a very nice sleeping bonnet. Moral: We should explain things to children in an honest manner because children deserve respect. We should resist telling them silly stories for our own amusement. Ends