Several years back I knew a man who had a beard. This man decided to shave the beard off one day at a time. Every day he would trim the beard to make it a little bit shorter until, eventually, there was no beard left, at which point he would, thankfully, stop the trimming and move to normal shaving in order to remain clean-shaven.

This man shaved off his beard in such a manner so as to help his children continue to recognize him during and after the transition period. He was concerned that the kids wouldn’t recognize him as Daddy if he just went from lumberjack face to babybutt face in a span of a few minutes/hours.

My beautiful wife and I are expecting a baby girl in the next few weeks. I currently have a beard. So, my dilemma is: to shave or not to shave? The beard has been longer; it has been shorter. I’m not concerned with it looking unkempt, but I do have a couple other concerns:

1. Do I want the pictures of my firstborn child to include a father who has a beard?

   I certainly don’t have a beard that looks anything like the one my father sported around the time he got married (it was the seventies, if that says anything), but I don’t want my little girl to one day look back and not recognize her daddy. I also don’t want to look back at pictures of my little girls one day and wonder who was that man with my daughter. Of course, I might have a beard twenty years from now — you never know.

2. Do I want to give a little baby something she can yank on whenever I hold her?

   Perhaps parents that actually have some experience can help me out with this one. I really don’t like the idea of someone, even my own kid, pulling my hair. That brings back bad memories.

3. If I’m having a baby, don’t I want to have a baby face?

So should I keep the beard or shave the beard? Baby’s due any day now, so I’m going to have to decide soon!