Hey handsome
Last night an octogenarian said that Tin is beautiful. I said thanks, I know. She said no he is really beautiful. And I said well we hope to teach him what my mother taught me – Beauty is as Beauty does. She said, well it does matter.
Anytime a black woman sees him the first thing she says is, “Hey handsome,” and he just smiles back, opening his moist brown eyes – he’s already, as one 8 year old boy called him, “a seducer” – so we have to start now instilling in him the thinking that beauty is as beauty does. But that woman is right, beauty does open doors, but you have to know how to behave once you walk in.
Still and all when it comes to bathtime that is the time we indulge in beauty talk – good beauty talk – as I comb out his knots in his hair, I say, Tin has beautiful hair, beautiful curls, gorgeous hair. I learned about this in a book called It’s All Good Hair because when you’re combing those knots out you want to be saying other things, like keep still, I know it hurts, etc., so focusing on the fact that this combing is about keeping up beautiful hair is more the message you want to send. And believe me, I look around at most boys his age who have shaved heads and think, hmmm, but in the end I love his hair and I want him to as well. That’s why when I saw this Sesame Street short, I had to show it to him. I love my hair! Yes, indeed.