I have asked this question to nearly everyone with a daughter and have gotten a mixed bag of answers...which I assume will happen again. My daughter is 5 months old. Do we pierce her ears sooner or later? My dad wouldn't allow me to have mine pierced until I was 16. Grandma took me when I was 12! I hated not having mine pierced as a little girl. It didn't help that I had 3 brothers and I looked like one of the boys. Please help!
I had my daughter's ears pierced after her first set of vaccinations...I say the younger the better because they can't play with their ears and get them infected and it's easier to clean them because they can't really resist you! If you wait too long, then I say wait until they're old enough to know that it's going to hurt and not to touch them and old enough to clean them themselves.
Hi K.,
You're her mother. When do YOU think she should have her ears pierced? That would be my first question to you.
But since you're taking a poll, my feelings are this. I have two young daughters. I want some negotiating power when they enter their teen years. Sure they would look adorable now with little diamond studs, but when it comes to asking for tattoos at the age of 9, I will be able to say, "No, sweetheart darling :) but in a few years you can have your ears pierced." And then they'll ask again about that tattoo. :)
I guess for me since I was 13 that was the magical number for me. Even if it's 12 that would be okay too. We all grow up so differently and our experiences really mold how we teach our children.
Another feeling for me is that it is their bodies and they have the right to decide whether or not they want a piercing. I was glad to have that decision at 13.
We can take polls from here to eternity. I do the same thing. It helps me to gather input. But I think for me what really helps after all the poll taking, I need to look deep inside and get quiet and still. Sometimes that means taking out a pen and paper and write. Just write. Not even thinking, but just writing. And whatever the answer is, it will come.
Please let me know how it turns out for you. Whatever you decide, I'm sure you'll be fine.
Good luck!
S. "The Shower Diva"
TheShowerDiva.com
Where Fun Reigns!™
In our household, getting your ears pierced is something that we do to celebrate getting your first period, as a way to mark that rite of passage and celebrate getting closer to "adulthood." That way, my daughter has something to look forward to with her period. In addition, she'll be old enough to decide if she really wants them or not.
In my opinion, we are too quick to decide for little girls what they should want, wear, and look like in our culture, rather than letting them grow into themselves - who may or may not want piercings. Also, if you plan to let your daughter grow her hair out, her ears will be covered anyway - and she won't look like a boy. Then again, with all the research showing how girls and boys are treated so differently (usually with boys coming off the better for it), it may not be such a terrible thing for your daughter to "look like a boy" without earrings for a short time in her life, either.
We had our daughters done at 6 months in the Drs office. But in hindsight I would consider posponing this for when she is older and asks for it herself. I think it would have been a nice treat for her to ask and then be able to get it done. That would be the only reason I would have waited so she could have that little win.
One good thing about doing it when they are young that she dosen't play with them ever for her its just part of her. (wish she had had hair so that I could have gotten her use to barretts... cause now she won't keep those in.)
We did have some struggles in the beginning with them coming out when I would undress her, I recommend getting a good pair of screw backs, not the kind that push on and screw off, they still come off, but the kind that you have to screw on from the get go. Since I got those they have never come off. And also try a pair that isn't to pointy, the diamond studs seemed poke into me when I held her.
What ever you decide, remember she is your child and don't let others judge your decisions!
In our family we decided to wait until the child was old enough to care for the ears and earrings on her own. There wasn't an age limit per say.. my oldest daughter was 5 and she did very well, cleaning them and all the initial care new pierced ears need. She also got to have to choice to get them pierced. Some girls don't want pierced ears if given the choice (my MIL has 5 young kids 13-8 and one girl just doesn't want her ears pierced although her 3 sisters have them.. she just doesn't). My youngest is much more mature as far as taking care of herself (brushing her hair and teeth, etc without being told) so we decided to let her get her ears pierced at the end of soccer season (she will be 4 next week). We learned with our oldest daughter that 6 weeks was not enough time to heal (she took hers out at school before lunch because she lost her back.. I went to put them back in after bath that night and her ears had shut enough that it hurt to put them in... we took her to get that hole re-pierced. So we pierced at the end of soccer season so she has several months to heal before her earrings have to be removed for games.
Also I reccomend you not (at any age) take your daughter to a place in the mail to pierce.. anywhere that uses that gun thing. It is a brunt forced trauma to the ears and not sanitary at all. Use a professional (health dept. licensed) piercer (or your doctor..although I would trust someone who does this dozens of times a day to a doctor who rarely does)A professional piercer uses a needle which you think will hurt but it actually doesn't. The needle and all equiptment are steril including the earrings themself (unlike in the mall where they pull the earrings from the display and "wipe off the gun". Neither of my daughters cried. My friend took her daughter(same age as my oldest)to mall... cried and got infected, also they are not straight. They also have hoop jewelry at the piercer (which can not poke, come loose, etc) that helps them keep them in, are more comfortable and helps them heal, also they can't lose the back,etc.
So the question is... do you want to take care of your daughters pierced ears right now? Do you want to give her a choice as well as a responsibily? Your her mom and noone can make the decision for you.
Hope this helps :)
Hi,
Well I had my daughters ears pierced at 6 months. It was great. They double teamed her and it was over in a second. She cried for about 30 seconds and that was it and I don't think it was over the piercing, it was because she was restrained and couldn't move. She is now 3 1/2 and her earrings are just like another part of her body. She has never played with them or bothered them. I would do it again in a heartbeat! I know some people say that we should let them decide what they want, but if they don't want them when they are older then they can just let them close up! Really though, what girl doesn't want their ears pierced, right? You just have to do what you feel is right for her.
