Switching up your look and finding your own style is all part of being a teenager, and many of us will remember having rebellious phases where we tried out drastic haircuts and wore clothes that we thought set us apart from the crowd. But one dad is now discovering just how far his own teenage daughter is willing to go for that sense of individuality - as she's demanded to be allowed to change schools just because she wants to dye her hair.
The man said his 15-year-old daughter currently goes to a school that doesn't allow unnatural hair colours, and she's now decided she wants to switch to another nearby school that does, simply so she can dye her locks purple. However, the dad is concerned the other school has a "poor reputation", and doesn't want his daughter's education to suffer.
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In a post on Reddit, he said: "I have a daughter, Mabel. I'm Mabel's sole parent, her mother signed full custody over to me and hasn't been in the picture since our daughter was 1.
"Being a single dad hasn't been easy but I'm now married to my wife of two years, Sarah. Sarah has two children from a previous relationship. Before we moved in together, we had an agreement that we wouldn't discipline each other's biological children to prevent any resentment, considering their ages when we got together.
"For the past couple of weeks, Mabel has been begging me to let her dye her hair purple. I've told Mabel no because unnatural hair colours are against her school's rules. If she comes into school with purple hair, they will keep sending her home until it's a natural colour again. This would result in Mabel missing classes and I just don't want to risk it.
"I tried to compromise and told Mabel we could do a temporary wash-in wash-out purple dye over the Christmas holidays but she is being very impatient. She has now been asking to change schools, as there's another school in our area that allows unnatural hair colours.
"Once again, I told Mabel no. First of all, it is petty, but Mabel goes to the same secondary school as her stepsiblings. We would have to leave the house very early to get them all to school on time.
"Secondly, the school that Mabel wants to change to has a very, very poor reputation for not teaching the students anything and letting them get away with murder. We live in a small town and word spreads.
"Thirdly, we've had no problems with Mabel's current school. Her grades are decent, the teachers are good at what they do and Mabel has lots of friends there. Mabel has expressed no other reason for changing schools other than wanting to dye her hair.
"I tried to explain to Mabel that her education is more important than this, but she insists that she should be able to look how she wants."
The dad has refused to change his decision, but now his daughter has been speaking to her stepmum about how "unfair" he is being - and the man's wife agrees with her.
He added: "Mabel has been complaining about how unfair I'm being to Sarah. Sarah brought it up to me in private and suggested I let my daughter change schools. She said autonomy and self-expression are important and that Mabel should get to make some choices for herself.
"I shut it down and said that I'm not letting Mabel change schools just so that she can dye her hair. Sarah said I'm being unreasonable and controlling."
Commenters on the post were largely on the dad's side, as many of them said it was a "ridiculous" reason for his daughter to want to switch schools.
One person said: "Changing schools over this is ridiculous. To her, it feels like the end of the world - but she's 15. Maybe look at getting some fun wigs. She might like learning how to dye them herself. If she wants to find the brightest red, darkest black, or lightest blonde her school considers in the natural spectrum - totally doable.
"Tell her that you love how colourful she is, and you want her to express herself - but her school is the one that will give her the best education - and right now that's more important."
As another wrote: "I agree with you hair dye is not the reason to change school. Plus you offered compromises like a washout over the holidays. Chalk is cool too and easily comes out in my experience."
And a third added: "Completely changing your whole routine, inconveniencing everyone else in the house, and risking her education just to let her dye her hair would be ridiculous."
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