Kerre McIvor: Disorderly kids the exception not the rule

COMMENT: You know the world's going mad when a hairdresser is charging $90 to cut and blow wave a child's hair.

An East Auckland hair salon announced this week that henceforth it would be charging kids at adult prices.

Ritchyrd and Jess Hirst who own H A i R Salon say they are fed up with the damage caused by out-of-control kids and that —​ as they spend more time on kids than they do on their adult clients —​ the decision to charge kids cuts at the same rate as adults is justified.

The Hirsts say the problem really lies with parents who refuse to monitor their children's behaviour and who become defensive when they're called upon to deal with the little monsters' tantrums.

Jess Hirst said in her early days of hairdressing, parents would get involved and stand next to the chair talking to the stylist and the child and take an interest in what was going on.

Now the parents are on their phones and the children are left to their own devices and the stylists are left to manage the children's behaviour.

There's probably an element of truth to that but I find it hard to believe that children can cause the sort of damage the Hirsts are talking about —​ $600 scissors broken Straightening irons smashed? Wheels on chairs broken? Really?

We're talking toddlers here, not the Incredible Hulk on a rampage.

Snot on the chairs, finger marks on the mirrors, ripped magazines —​ well, you can see how that happens. Annoying, messy but relatively easily fixed and paid for.

But how on Earth do kids get their hands on scissors and straightening irons? And have the time to tear chairs apart?

The Hirsts' stance has polarised the community. Clearly, with the hike in prices for children, the Hirsts are trying to discourage children from being brought to their salon and that's fair enough. Their place, their rules.

They point out that they have many clients who come to the salon to relax and get away from their own children. The last thing they want to endure is other people's children behaving badly.

The crux of this story is one that crops up time and again — parents aren't parenting their children properly.

That's what leads to bans on children in cafes, restaurants and now hair salons. And to calls for there to be a separate section in planes for parents (or nannies) travelling with children.

But is it true that modern parents are more laissez faire and less concerned with parenting than previous generations?

I think it's fashionable to say that today's parents of children are hopeless. That they're too selfish to discipline their little angels. That they're too absorbed with their Mummy blogs and Insta feeds to spend time moulding their children into decent citizens.

But I'm not convinced it's true. Having travelled a lot recently, I've spent hours on planes with parents and children and the kids have been great.

One child wailed for 10 minutes in the middle of the night but to be honest, I felt like doing pretty much the same after 10 hours of flying. She was only giving voice to my thoughts and it was all over after some active, loving parenting.

Kids in the restaurants I go to don't run up and down between the tables and annoy wait staff or other patrons — they've learned to sit and chat and wait for a meal. But then their parents don't push them beyond their limits either.

I haven't encountered the little beasts from the East that created such havoc in the Hirsts' hair salon. And I'm willing to bet they are the exception, not the rule.