Newish photos of Michael Jackson’s children have revealed that the eldest—Michael Joseph Kingly Son of Jackson His Highness, Jr.—was, at one point, a cheap bottle blonde. Presumably not by choice. Although fresher scandals about Prince’s parentage, biological and otherwise, are arriving fast and furious, the hair thing has really touched a nerve among parents. Especially those who need to be outraged often enough to sustain a lively blog.

THREE FACES OF JR: It don't matter if you're white or really, really white.

Not that it’s loving to bleach a child’s hair to the point where he looks like Siegfried, Roy, or one of the Village of the Damned zombies (who, incidentally, wore wigs with built-in domes so they appeared to have extra-large brains).

INSPIRATION? Blondes have more fun, except when they're possessed.

But what’s really behind the revulsion and concern these photos have provoked? If it’s just the evidence of bad parenting (bleaching a child’s hair can, after all, burn her tender skin, compel her to yodel, lead people to conclude you’ve just kidnapped her and must disguise her, or cause allergic reactions; just ask Sasha Baron Cohen), is it really so shocking that someone known as Wacko might exercise poor judgment?

I think it goes deeper. I think these photos make all too vivid a broader problem: our tendency to “package” or perfect our children, while denying their natural selves: the occasionally messy, lazy selves who just want to play mindlessly now and then with uneducational materials like dirt.

As a helpful reminder to avoid imposng perfection on your child, you might want to buy this prieceless 1988 sculpture, “Michael Jackson and Bubbles,” by high-kitsch (and apparently clairvoyant) artist, Jeff Koons. And then you know, just keep it out in the mud room.

SUN-IN: Portrait of the artist as a young, racially ambiguous figurine.

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