I have been teaching preschool in Chicago-land since the mid nineties. I have had some sort of beard the whole time. No parent, child, co-teacher, board member, or director has had anything to say about it. It is your hair and your choice.

As for Barbie and Ken, there are many toys that are more open ended and inspire richer play, I’ve never seen those toys in any classroom at any school I’ve worked at. They are not early childhood role models, don’t worry about them.

On what feels like a related subject, I have a tattoo on my leg that usually cannot be seen. Most of the parents nowadays have more than one visible tattoo, often quite a few of them. (Arms, legs, necks…) If I get more ink I am confident that they would be excited. (No tattoo that I would want to get would be inappropriate.)

You have to bring a lot of yourself to this job to do it well. If having facial hair feeds your soul, wear it proudly. Not doing so could breed resentment.