I blame it on high school...
Does anyone know how to get gum and peanut butter out of a child’s hair?
I blame it on high school, really. It was more than 10 years ago on a choir bus trip when somehow there were several teenagers piling on one bus seat. I don’t know if we were trying to see how many we could fit on one seat or if it was a mere impulse, but no matter the reason, there were suddenly many bodies flopped onto one seat. Someone on the bottom started yelling in pain and the doggie pile was dismantled layer by layer. Everyone came out okay and started dispersing to their seats.
“Where’s my gum?” Hollered Julianne. “I lost my gum.”
That’s when we found out where Julianne’s gum was and that John had a problem. He had somehow ended up on the floor between the seats and was still trying to pull himself up. Somehow in all the confusion, Julianne’s gum had become one with John’s eyebrow. That is when someone in their teenage wisdom instructed that peanut butter will get gum out of hair. The next stop peanut butter was purchased and spread across John’s forehead and brow. (I think it was used a little too liberally, but it was fun to see him covered with the goop and squirming.) After waiting several minutes, we could hear John hollering that it hurt and Julianne yelling right back, “Hold still, I’m trying to comb it out!” I remember glancing over long enough to see the pain in John’s face and Julianne’s concentration. My memory seems to be fuzzy after that.
So here is where the story comes to me and my little family of boys. My three year old, P, has been learning to use the potty. He is not motivated by much, except for the gumballs that he and his brother gave to their dad for Christmas. Long story short, he had gum in his mouth at nap time. I know, big blunder on my part, but unfortunately that was not my last of the day. Yes, he woke up with blue strings clumped in his light blonde silky hair. I was not worried because I had remembered way back when Julianne got gum in John’s hair. (I didn’t think about it long enough to realize I didn’t really remember if it worked. It seemed to since he currently does not have gum in his brow.) I told P. to not worry and that we would get it out. I grabbed a glob of peanut butter. My 6 year old thought it was poop. (Just to add excitement to life, I licked the brown blob. That sure made 6 year old think!) Then I massaged it into P.’s hair. Waited. Rinsed. Nothing, except now I have peanut butter and gum in his hair – even after a good shampoo and rinse. So I’m stuck. My life experiences have failed me. Maybe I will just cut it out. It may look nice since P. cut the other side of his hair two weeks ago. This way it will match and we will once again look like a ‘put-together’ family with one of our sons sporting perfectly matching spikes of short hair jutting from his crown. It will look like I meant to do that. And just between us, I did.
I blame it on high school, really. It was more than 10 years ago on a choir bus trip when somehow there were several teenagers piling on one bus seat. I don’t know if we were trying to see how many we could fit on one seat or if it was a mere impulse, but no matter the reason, there were suddenly many bodies flopped onto one seat. Someone on the bottom started yelling in pain and the doggie pile was dismantled layer by layer. Everyone came out okay and started dispersing to their seats.
“Where’s my gum?” Hollered Julianne. “I lost my gum.”
That’s when we found out where Julianne’s gum was and that John had a problem. He had somehow ended up on the floor between the seats and was still trying to pull himself up. Somehow in all the confusion, Julianne’s gum had become one with John’s eyebrow. That is when someone in their teenage wisdom instructed that peanut butter will get gum out of hair. The next stop peanut butter was purchased and spread across John’s forehead and brow. (I think it was used a little too liberally, but it was fun to see him covered with the goop and squirming.) After waiting several minutes, we could hear John hollering that it hurt and Julianne yelling right back, “Hold still, I’m trying to comb it out!” I remember glancing over long enough to see the pain in John’s face and Julianne’s concentration. My memory seems to be fuzzy after that.
So here is where the story comes to me and my little family of boys. My three year old, P, has been learning to use the potty. He is not motivated by much, except for the gumballs that he and his brother gave to their dad for Christmas. Long story short, he had gum in his mouth at nap time. I know, big blunder on my part, but unfortunately that was not my last of the day. Yes, he woke up with blue strings clumped in his light blonde silky hair. I was not worried because I had remembered way back when Julianne got gum in John’s hair. (I didn’t think about it long enough to realize I didn’t really remember if it worked. It seemed to since he currently does not have gum in his brow.) I told P. to not worry and that we would get it out. I grabbed a glob of peanut butter. My 6 year old thought it was poop. (Just to add excitement to life, I licked the brown blob. That sure made 6 year old think!) Then I massaged it into P.’s hair. Waited. Rinsed. Nothing, except now I have peanut butter and gum in his hair – even after a good shampoo and rinse. So I’m stuck. My life experiences have failed me. Maybe I will just cut it out. It may look nice since P. cut the other side of his hair two weeks ago. This way it will match and we will once again look like a ‘put-together’ family with one of our sons sporting perfectly matching spikes of short hair jutting from his crown. It will look like I meant to do that. And just between us, I did.
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