They are separated and both parents of the same boy... common sense, they discussed, boy went with dad, boy came back bald...

Someone needs to lay off the Meth and just stick to being a Hobo.

Shaved and bald are completely different hairstyles.

How do you know the ex is the dad it could be the mom

Statistics and common sense tells us this: 1. Our son: statistically means a kid from two heterosexual parents (99.9% in Australia per aifs.gov) 2. "Returns him": more times than not, the mother gets full custody of the child. Returns him makes it sound possessive as though OP has full custody (85% of kids living with one parent live with mom) 3. OP's person at the top of the post says woman, so common sense dictates she's the woman (99% per common sense) 84% chance OP fits into ALL of these. It's probably dad that shaved his head.

Now THAT is dedication

You can just look at the icon at the top left of the post to see if they are female or male.

That only tells you the sex of the OP. Not their ex.

It is possible that the shaved head idea came from the kid! It was incredibly irresponsible for the ex to do that after possible options were discussed, but I can't discount the fact that maybe the kid suggested the shaved head, I know I wanted to once when I was young!

It is possible, but even if it did come from the kid, you notify the other parent before making a major change like that. Also, considering OP's title says "kids ain't pawns," I'm willing to bet it was more the dad's idea than the kid's. I mean, they're discussing hairstyles and then the child comes back with no hair to style, that's pretty clearly spite.

Entirely possible that the kid had the idea, but it should definitely be discussed with all three involved. Experience; I said I wanted to be bald like my dad when I was three, my dad was like okay cool!! And buzzed my head right then and there.. For like two years people thought I was a weird boy who liked to dress like a girl, or they clutched their hearts and thought I had cancer. I wore so many hats...

Yeah just because a kid might have an idea doesn't mean it's a good idea..

Or in a Trump wig.

Now you're just being cruel.

Not really, nobody likes that nag.

I'm not sure a beret's the way to go to avoid being teased…

Luckily, with winter here, he just looks bundled up like everyone else. Though many schools have 'no hats inside' rules.

I'm pretty sure it's Summer in Australia this time of year. So winter hats will look odd- but if he's shaved, he needs a hat just to keep from getting a sun burned scalp.

Oh right! I forgot to check the location ?

not quite summer yet! still spring, so the weather is still varying between cool and getting warmer.