Hi Alopecia World;

My name is Jeanette, and let me introduce to you my Daughter~ Jazzlyn~ As a Parent let me share a PARENT'S... Fears, My Concerns, My Worries, My Knowledge, My Power and Strength, OutShined and Overwhelmed By my 5 year old Daughters Resilience, Endurance & Perseverance

I can sincerely understand how this can be so difficult and hoping and wishing for results the "Fact" that there is no "Cure" for alopecia! Dr, can recommend and make promises but in the end like myself as a single mom that dealt with my 5 year old loosing what was the longest hair for a child her age was unacceptable for her,

WORSE..... is if mom feels same way! You have to show her she is SOOOO much more than her hair!! Her presence alone is a blessing! Her health! And most important of all you are her :"Boost of Confidence~Her Cheerleader" Life goes on!! You have to build on her confidence and strength especially now soo young to deal with what's ahead the best way for her to face anything is to arm her with educating her with her illness, and as time goes on she will repeat those same words to kids and strangers when they ask!!

My daughter is 5 years old and she tells them straight out, "I have ALOPECIA"with confidence n full of life! Where at one point i felt hopelessness my daughter was able to recover quicker with her "Resilience" and its because i may have cried over the loss of her hair and difficult times to come but over joyed with happiness still having her by my side! Remember that during the difficult moments!

There was a time i made it a point to make sure i get inside her head but how..she is soooo young so i started off with a huge colorful chart of Happy Faces, but other faces that showed feelings of fear, sadness, crying, all types of emotions. I asked my daughter use or point out which face your feeling today?! One night she posted the face representing fear/scared and i sat beside her and asked y? She said "Mommie, i don't want my hair to all leave, i will miss it! I will look like a monster! Ugly? How will kids know i'm a GIRL!? I'm SOO SCARED>>>as i held her tightly and cried without her noticing of course, but hearing that broke my heart!

You need to bring an understanding to a child her age, in a way they can understand! So, i replied with? Do you think your fun? Do you still get mad when you don't get your way? she said yes? Do you still love desserts over dinner she said of course mommy! and so, on as silly as it sounds, but told her loosing your hair is not going to change any of those things! YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE, AND PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS BE HERE FOR YOU AND LOVE YOU TWICE AS MUCH! AFTER THAT NIGHT!!....SHE WASNT AS SCARED! SHE DID FEAR BEING BALD BECAUSE ID PEAK IN BATHROOM AND WATCHED HER LOOKING INTO THE MIRROR,...THOSE LITTLE THINGS YOU HAVE TO CATCH, TICKLE HER TUMMY AND POINT INTO THE MIRROR, THATS THE SMILE PEOPLE WILL WANT TO ALWAYS SEE FROM YOU AS A FRIEND, NOT SADNESS!!

At 3 years old i had my daughter in this pre school talent show they had for preschoolers as a way to boost their confidence and she had that energy because i showed her other kids doing talent shows that its more fun than it is scary..She was doing it til she hit 5! At 5 because of what was happening to her she didnt want to do anything but sit around depressed! The light from my babygirls eyes disappeared!" That is what hurt me most not loosing her hair but watching her give into it and "LOOSING HER SPIRIT!!"!!

After spending months of emails, letters, and blogs a single mother without the funds of being able to afford a wig and making all these treatment copays, meds, etc...Dr's listings of false hopes but filled pockets of my hard earned money and getting no where fast angered me!

Worse, it was harming my child, and if it was making her ill or pain in any way it wasn't worth using, just because i wanted to see her with hair again!! Remember, their are no guarantees, IN THE END THEY USE HER AS A GUINNI PIG of never ending experiments! I met a 20yr old that over 15yrs of testing, trials, shots and meds, that didn't work and that is because her mother wanted her daughters hair back desperately, but child was week, tired, in pain and angered, because shots to the head as painful as they were the headaches worsened and hair came and fell off constantly, the daughter was at the point of yelling and crying to mom to "STOP" she no longer cares for hair!! However, her mother was still trying to convince her their may be possibilities, because dr's say soo....Lets just say daughter and mom no longer speak! She decided to live with her father..Hearing other stories and peoples success or failures, allow us to learn and grow and learn points that will help any parent dealing with their children's ALOPECIA!!

I was blessed with a Dr. that did advise me of a club for kids wigs, for free! I thought ok i have to make sure to get it before the first day of school!! I did i finally got it...but with that being said, "I also made a conscience decision to send my daughter to school without the wig!" Yes after spending months trying to beat the clock for her first day of school i realized that she is beautiful no matter what she wears, why should a wig be any different?! Why would i force on my daughter what society finds acceptable and what isn't!? Just because people say so? I will be honest, everyone including my mom was against me on this one!

My child's father also, reprimanded me for not sending her with the wig to school! I was afraid of it falling off and children being scared and uncomfortable and making her feel the same. So, i sent her to school with no wig and spoke with her every night about her condition and she isn't the only child with issues.

I WANTED MY DAUGHTER TO LEARN THIS MESSAGE EARLY!! """LOVE YOURSELF FIRST, FULLY AND COMPLETELY ACCEPT YOURSELF FOR WHO YOU ARE, AND WHAT ILLNESS YOUR DEALING WITH, WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT WHO WILL OR WONT ACCEPT YOU!"" NOT HAVING HER DEPEND ON A WIG!!

"""AMAZINGLY SHE DID WITH GODS BLESSINGS!!""

It helps if you introduce to your child someone else with a worse issue. My friend was a young girl wit no hands and legs. Advised my daughter you may bot have hair but you can run n play, where this other young girl could not!

Thru a child's eyes she understood the message i was trying to put across with "IMAGES" I also showed her models that are BALD and beautiful! I showed her she can still do what she loves, be the center of the stage!

What i saw was the "LIGHT & LIFE" come back into her eyes! Now she has more confidence than any of the girls in her Kindergarten class. What i did the moment the last of her hair fell out! I brought her to MACYS, makeup chair and let them beautify her with natural earthy tones, to make her feel beautiful again! "and SHE DID!"

She just did a documentary for the Alopecia Foundation, and is full of life and doesn't care what others think! I always did as a child and hurt myself in a million ways but my daughter was my 2nd chance in raising her right! Letting her know we all have purpose in this life, and that is guided by STRENGTH & Knowledge!! She is an "AMAZING LITTLE GIRL!" I'm happy to say there are days she is more comfortable without her wig than she is on days with wig! I allow her to make the choice of putting it on or not! She is happier that way!