Payos Behind The Ears

Parshas Hashavua

לא תקפו פאת ראשכם ויקרא יט כז                                                                           

The Rambam in Sefer Hamitzvos writes the reason why the Torah gave us the Lav of לא תקיפו פאת ראשכם so we shouldn't look like the כומרי ע"ז (pagan priests) who used to shave off their sideburns and thereby rounded off the hair on their head.

Perhaps, children who place their Payos behind their ear end up looking like the כומרי ע"ז. Since they have no facial hair (no sideburns) their hairless skin becomes exposed at the same spot where the כומרי ע"ז shave off their sideburns.

My personal observation of old photographs and paintings of children, Chasidim, and non-Chasidim alike, we won't find

children with their Payos behind their ears. 

4 portraits by Isidor Kaufmann 1853-1921