Why Ohio Mom Let 6-Year-Old Daughter Shave Her Head

— -- A 6-year-old Ohio girl’s haircut is making headlines.

When Aellyn Stannard begged her parents to allow her to shave her head -- like she sees her dad do every month -- the girl’s mother in particular was faced with a huge parenting decision.

“I thought maybe she might forget about it but the next day she definitely didn’t forget about it,” Aellyn’s mom, Paige Lucas-Stannard, told ABC News. “She still wanted it. She was really excited.”

Lucas-Stannard, also the mother of twin boys, wrote about her parenting dilemma on her blog, Baby Dust Diaries.

“This wasn’t a hard decision or even a big deal to her,” she wrote of Aellyn. “I really, really, REALLY wanted to talk her out of it. I wanted to fawn over how beautiful her hair is.”

In the end, Lucas-Stannard allowed Aellyn to shave her head. Aellyn’s father, Pete, did the haircut, buzzing his daughter’s hair from a bob to a long Mohawk and then to a buzz cut.

“I think that she’s just the bravest little girl,” Lucas-Stannard said. “She just does it like, ‘This is me,’ and with a big smile.”

Lucas-Stannard’s decision prompted some backlash online but most people were supportive of her decision.

Parenting expert Ericka Souter says some parents may be hesitant to give their children freedom and that communication is key.

“A lot of parents were hesitant to give a child that young the freedom to shave off their head,” said Souter, an editor at the website Mom.me. “Before you give in to something like that, you really need to make sure that this child is ready for it, ready for looking different."