Baldness

My three and a half year old daughter has a bald spot. Discounting vitamin deficiency (she eats well, a balanced diet, give or take the odd bag of chocolate buttons), I can only assume that it’s a result of her younger sister’s hair pulling antics.

The younger sister (almost two) has pretty much stopped this peskiness, but the hair is not there. We are wondering if it will return.

Today, after washing her hair, I surreptitiously parted her hair on the other side, hoping she wouldn’t notice. She didn’t.

We’re also hoping that her teachers haven’t noticed either.

When your child goes to school, it seems that not only everything your child does is noted, but everything you do comes under scrutiny, too.

Baby number three was born in September. This seemed to correspond with a change in mood at school for our eldest daughter. We, and the teachers, have been communicating via the contact book about this, trying to think of possible causes for this change. At Christmas, I spoke to one of the teachers in person, who suggested that she thought it was due to the arrival of baby number three.

Now, whilst I realise that any change in routine is unsettling to any child, our children being no exception (see above – hair pulling), I find it hard to believe that a small baby, who is clearly doted on by his biggest sister (second child is still having issues, but improving), can be causing all this disruption to her school day. The teacher said that sometimes at school she just seems ‘lost’ and 'doesn’t seem to know what to do with herself'.

I’m inclined to think it has more to do with the fact that she started school after the Easter holidays last year. She’d made some friends – all older (she wasn’t too interested in the children the same age). So when she returned in September, some of these children had moved on. Even though I had explained to her that some children were going on to other schools, she obviously didn’t make the connection. But then why should she? She’s a child. I don’t know if much was made of their leaving at school, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t say goodbye. She couldn’t have. When I asked her where they were, she told me she thought they weren’t at school because they were poorly.

So, really I’m not sure what’s caused all this. Maybe it is her brother’s arrival, maybe it’s the fact that she has experienced loss of some kind for the first time or maybe it’s down to her personality.

It worries me.

I want to find a reason, and I suppose, like any parent, I don’t want the reason to be anything we’ve done, though I have to accept the fact that it could be.