Rachel is fairly passive; she was a holy terror when she was a toddler, but she outgrew it by the time she was four or five, and is now sweet and funny, and typically agreeable and fairly quiet. Don't get me wrong; she's a tough kid, but she doesn't talk back and she listens to reason.

Alex will argue, Kevin will argue; Rachel just doesn't work that way, so when I heard her arguing with Char last night, I was frankly surprised and determined to stay out of the way. I kept my ass glued to the sofa and watched TV with Alex and Kevin and pretended I didn't hear a damn thing.

It worked until Char came out, and with a look that said don't you dare agree with her told me to go talk to my daughter.

It's never good when the kids are "my" kids.

I didn't get two feet into her room when she erupted It's not fair! Alex was shaving when he was twelve!

WTF?

When Alex was twelve, he didn't have a choice. He had enough facial hair that he was violating the school's dress and standards code.

But why was I being dragged into an arguement over shaving? So of course I said the most stupid thing I could. You don't have a mustache.

Give me credit here; I heard them arguing but I didn't know about what, and I am not usually witness to the removal of unwanted feminine body hair. It's not something I typically think about. You say 'shaving' and I think of the routine I go through every morning only because Char wants me clean shaven these days.

My daughter now thinks I'm a moron.

I am a considerate moron, because when she lifted a pants leg and said Look! I have a forest growing here I didn't laugh at the baby fine peach fuzz. All I could tell her was that if her mother said no, then the answer was no.

I don't see the harm in letting her scrape away hair no one else can see, but Char assures me Rachel doesn't need to and should not start shaving yet. I'm also warned that the next fight will surely be over the wearing of makeup, and if she comes to me and I tell her it's fine...

That's all I got, the trailing voice and a finger pointed at me. It's accompanied by that look, so I know where she's going with that thought.

It's wrong that I am somewhat amused that Char and Rachel are going to start butting heads over stupid shit the way Alex and I do, isn't it?