Why does my thirteen year old need to shave?

My boy's mustache.

It seems we push kids faster and faster towards adulthood.  At the same time we are pushing age restrictions farther and farther into the twenties.  My sons attend a private school where a clean shaven face is required. While I'm all in favor of the dress code and other issues with appearance, I just don't see the harm in a little peach fuzz on a boy's lip.  So this year on the school's designated day to take ID pictures, my thirteen year old was told he would not be allowed to take his picture because he needed to shave.  I pretty much lost my mind.  I dragged him to every administrator and rule maker at the school.  I wanted them to tell me directly that his little bit of peach fuzz was detrimental to the school's image.  Needless to say, I got no where with my argument. He was quick to remind me that his older brother had to shave at the same age and he thought it was hysterical that his dad was upset about his baby boy having to shave.


So like everything else I had to do a little research into shaving.  Some of the facts and numbers on shaving surprised me.  My least favorite fact, and point of my argument, was that the average American boy starts shaving between the ages of 14 and 16.  Can I just get one more year?  A man that shaves regularly will spend 5 months of his life shaving.  Don't let the bureaucrats in D.C. know this, but Peter the Great of Russia imposed a tax on beards.  Amish men are clean shaven until they are married.  I guess once you marry a woman, you don't have to keep up your appearance any more.  Works for me.  The average guy will spend five grand on shaving supplies in his lifetime.  I think that's a little exaggerated but that's just my opinion.  And most men will shave an average of 20,000 times in their life.  So why start early?

Shaving kit

To me it's just a reminder of how fast we have to push our kids these days.  Not that I'm against teaching and pushing kids to learn.  I just happen to think kids should be allowed to play in the yard a little more. My two boys are teenagers and they still watch Sponge-Bob.  Personally, I think that's the stupidest show I've ever seen but if that's the part of childhood they hold on to, I'm all for it.  Kids are already in a big hurry to grow up.  Peach fuzz should be a part of your preteen years not a month in the summer you start 8th grade.  Yes I know, I'm just being an over protective dad.  I just want to be able to say that I didn't let important events slip by unnoticed.  Once a boy shaves next thing you know he's bringing home a girl.  Then he's driving away from your house with all his possessions.  So I'll do my best to cherish 13 while I can and reminisce about the one month of my son's life he was allowed to have peach fuzz.