OFF TOPIC - pierced ears

I think around ten would be okay with me. But I would be very adamant about only allowing small and very appropriate to her age earrings. Definitely no big hoops for a tomboy.

I did mine on a dare from some friends when I was 16. We were sitting on the stoop in front of my doctor's house when they dared me to do it. I rang his bell after office hours and asked him to do it. He said your mother will kill me, but he got a needle and thread and did it anyway. Lucky for both of us, my mother didn't have a fit.

I doubt that would fly nowadays when everyone is suing everyone else.

Lucille

I had to wait until I was thirteen. That's probably what I'd go with for DD too, except she has no desire whatever to get hers pierced. Hates pain. I'm also one of those cranky types who makes 'em wait longer the more they bug me.

Karen E.

Karen -

I like the way you think, VBG! I also made my DDs wait until 13.

Sue (one of the last of the baby boom generation with virgin lobes)

She is definitely the odd one out without pierced ears. She'll ask now and again (like yesterday when she was the only girl with out pierced ears), but not to bug me about it. C

No worries there - my fear is she'll want to borrow mine...

Oh my - I know lots of girls who did it that way.

I think it's largely a question of maturity. I don't really want to have to be responsible for ensuring that they're properly cared for while healing, so it's not happening until I feel secure the kid can manage it well. Also, it can be handy to use things like this as a sort of rite of passage. To do that, you need some kind of rationale (why at this age/stage/whatever you've decided) and you need to build it up for a while so it feels like an important transition. Somewhere around the 9/10/11 year ages is usually a good time for some kind of rite of passage developmentally.

Best wishes, Ericka

Add me to the list of baby boomers with non-holed ears... or anything else for that matter. lol

I just could never understand why someone would put themselves through the pain voluntarily.

And don't get me started about the parents who have babies in diapers ears pierced! Child abuse in my book!

Nyssa, who might have holes in her head, but not ones for jewelry

.My dd got hers done at 8 - DAD took her, I thought she should wait. Now that she's 12, I have to remind her to put earrnings in occasionally to keep the holes from closing!

If God had meant for me to have holes in my ears, He would have put them there.

DD got hers done the year she turned 13.

I didn't get mine done until I was in college.

And yes, she does borrow my earrings on a regular basis. Her Homecoming outfit was almost all from my closet or jewelry box -- everything except the underwear and the necklace (she even borrowed a strapless bra!)

jenn

-- Jenn Ridley : snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com WIP: Poppies (Art-Stitch), two knitted tops, Oriental Butterfly Most recently Finished: Floral Sampler, Insect Sampler

I was told I could get mine done at thirteen, so naturally, I had them done at twenty! I think twelve/thirteen is reasonable for most girls. They're generally ready by then to look after them properly so they heal correctly, and they're ready to look after the jewellery too. This topic has come up with some of my girlfriends, whose daughters love to dress up and want to know when they can wear "real" earrings, and not just the little stick-on jewels. There's a consensus for somewhere between ten and thirteen.

Louisa

My girls were about five and seven. We were in Spain and they were envious of the Spanish girls who of course had theirs done at birth. I asked a neighbour where they could have it done and he said to "See the woman who pulls the babies out" - aka midwife lol

My grandmother did mine when I was a baby. One big fat darning needle, doused in the flame of a candle, cork placed behind the ear and put the needle through threaded with silk. Tie a loop in the silk and keep the silk turned to keep the hole open until healed.

The midwife used a similar technique sans candle and when the oldest daughter was done, younger passed out. However she came to in time to insist she was still going through with it, just didn't like watching lol

My youngest DD wanted them done in first grade and since she's bugged us for months, finally did got them done (at Claire's with the piercing gun) and the oldest DD got them also at the time so that made them 7 & 10..in the past year youngest DD got her ears pierced second time... like me , I had first holes when I was 19 and in the Navy and then again at

Donna in S. Indiana

Good thing I didn't get you those lily of the valley earrings I saw! C

We just did the bra shopping thing with DD; she needed something....

Yesterday I let her wear a "solitaire" pendant I got someplace - white metal and glass, but I had saved it just for such occasions - her needed a piece of jewelry that looked nice enough but could be lost with no heart break. C

My mother didn't have pierced ears because when she was young, only "hussies and poor girls" had theirs pierced. She made me wait until I was I was getting ready to turn 18, (I had already started college, so she cut me a break on the age issue).

She was divorced by then and was seeing somebody new, and he wanted to buy her some expensive earrings...but...no holes! So, guess who got to be the guinea pig?! I got mine done, so she could see that it didn't hurt much. I got out of the chair, and then it was her turn.

That was six or seven years ago.

You know what? She feels like a total moron for making me wait so long.

In my opinion, if my future daughter (should I have one) is old enough to express an **earnest and sincere** desire to have them done...then she is old enough for us to take her out and do it. If later she doesn't like it, then she can simply stop wearing earrings.

Myself, I've been having some issues with my ears for several months and my holes have closed up. My husband is looking forward to when we can go out and have all three sets of holes in my lobes re-punched, and at least one set in the cartilage re-punched.

Cheryl...if you do decide to let her...please buy her some GOOD earrings. Don't let her wear the cheap crap from Claire's or wherever. I went that route and developed a severe metal sensitivity. I have trouble even wearing stainless steel for longer than a few hours. All my earrings are are either high-grade gold or anodized titanium (which are REALLY hard to find).

Loves me my titanium posts... Becky A.

I had mine done at age 12, with a permission note from my mom, at a local jeweller's; a girlfriend and I had them done at the same time, for moral support, lol. My mom had hers done about a decade later.

"Cheryl Isaak"

That's what I did -- I told my daughter that once she started having her period, she could go get her ears pierced.

But for those who are so > Also, it can be handy to use things like this as a