Do hair, not drugs

It's Red Ribbon Week at school. Mark is learning to Just Say No, which I think he already knows how to do quite well, thankyouverymuch. ("No, I didn't brush my teeth; No, I won't eat that; No, I don't want to take a shower.")

Red Ribbon Week has a full schedule of activities, including:

• Monday: Crazy hat day.
• Tuesday: Crazy sock day.
• Wednesday: Red shirt day.
• Thursday: Crazy hair day.
• Friday: Career dress up day.

Mark's dressed up every day so far, and to be honest, between all the "crazy" clothes, it looks more like Say Yes to Dressing Like the Homeless Week than Say No to Drugs Week.

But Mark's really gotten into it. He wore his Trouble Hat Monday and socks with cats jumping over the Eiffel Tower on Tuesday, hiked all the way up to his knees. Yesterday, all the kids wore red shirts, and as they all filed into the schoolyard, it looked like a wave of Target employees heading in to work.

Last night I asked Mark what he'd learned about drugs this week. He just shrugged.

"It's the third day of Red Ribbon Week--you haven't learned anything about drugs?" I asked.

He scrunched up his face and answered, questioningly, "Uhhhh, don't do them?"

"That's right," I said. "Say no to drugs--except for insulin!"

He couldn't tell me much about drugs, but he knew exactly what he wanted for Crazy Hair Day. He wanted red hair, with a blue stripe down the middle.

It was messy. My hands were bright red afterward, and the splotches around his ears looked like Mark was bleeding out, but the paint wiped off pretty easily. I even tried spraying on a blue lightning bolt, but it kind of faded into the red paint.

Here's how it looked:

I'll have a very patriotic (red, white and blue) bathtub tonight. And he won't be able to lie about washing his hair!

I sacrificed one shirt in the spraying process (Mark put it on too soon, and turned the collar red) and I'm sure the shirt he's wearing will come home stained as well. But it was fun to create. It was also fun to see all the other kids on the way to school, with their brightly colored hair, and sharp, pointy spikes.

I'm still not sure what it has to do with saying no to drugs, but at least the kids are having fun with it.