At what age did you let your DD (or DS) have theirs ears pierced?

[XBenedict]

DD is 9. We have spoken about it in the past and agreed that the summer holidays between primary and secondary school would be the time to do it.

However DD's best friend has had hers done and to say DD is gutted........

[GoldPlatedNineDoors]

Mines too young (1) but I had to wait to 13. Never did me any harm - dont much wear them now.

id say summer between primary and secondary is about right and what I would say to dd.

She wont lose out by waiting and best you wait til she is responsible for proper ear care (cleaning and handling them). Maybe get her a plant and if its still alive in 6months (with her being solely responsible) say you wilk reconsider?

[Festivedidi]

Dd1 was allowed hers done in the summer holidays just before her 13th birthday (between Y7 and Y8). She hadn't ever asked before that but we'd always said she had to be at Secondary school.

[FannyFifer]

When they ask and are old enough to be responsible for looking after, cleaning etc.
I had mine done at around age 7.

[noisytoys]

DD is in reception and she has started to ask for them because some of her friends have it done. We have said she can do it in the summer holidays

[Hulababy]

We have told DD she can have them done at the very start of the summer holidays, at end of Y6, before joining secondary school.

[SauvignonBlanche]

The dat after she finished primary school, we had a girly day in town together.
I didn't give a shiny shite how many of her friends had their's done!

[lljkk]

Check what school rules are because this can get tricky.

DC school said fine to just put tape over for PE; however they couldn't make me understand exactly which tape they meant, so i scratched head a lot and kept supplying "wrong" type of tape.

Then they said she couldn't leave the earrings in for swim lessons, so she had to miss a few school swim lessons. And after that when she did take them out they tried to heal up within an hour (sigh).

So all in all, quite a faff.

Otherwise, she was 9 & looked after them competently herself.

[XBenedict]

That's exactly what I had in mind - a girly day together including ear piercing.

[SauvignonBlanche]

Whereas, if you wait until the start of the summer holidays it has no impact on their schooling whatsoever!

[SauvignonBlanche]

We went to the hairdressers together as well OP, it was lovely!

[XBenedict]

Sounds lovely!

Trouble is this was the plan with her best friend, the 4 of us were off to town for a girlie day.......until this week

[Startail]

11 and 10

[SauvignonBlanche]

Have a Mummy/Daughter day instead.

[XBenedict]

Yes I will. Just feel for her tonight.

[Hulababy]

A special grown up mum/daughter day - she can have her ears pierced, go for lunch together, maybe even a nice dress/outfit too.

[SauvignonBlanche]

It's hard when they feel let down by their friends, isn't it? Lots of cuddles for her tonight.

[cappucinogirl4]

My DD had hers done for her 11 birthday.Has to take them out for PE but it's been fine and no hassle.She's been very responsible cleaning them.

[nooka]

I told dd that I wouldn't let her get hers done until she was 16. I've had horrible problems with mine (recurrent infections) and I didn't want that for her.

However in the end she had them done to mark her first period when she was 12. It worked really well, she looked after them very carefully and it was a lovely surprise for her as she had no idea that it was even an option (I just told her we were going out for a girly shopping trip and a treat was in the offing). She did moan about not having them done when all her friends did, but it wasn't really a big deal to manage.

[ViperInTheManger]

I had to wait until 16 as my parents thought it was common to have pierced ears .

DD was told between juniors and seniors but I relented and let her have them done when she was about 10.

[NewFerry]

I think it's nice to mark the separation from primary to the more grown up secondary school. So although DD wanted hers done from about age 8, I insisted she wait till she was 11.
Like others have said, I don't care what others do. My daughter, my (well, our) parenting.

[TooManyQualityStreet]

I've agreed with my DD that she can have them done next Summer when she'll be 11½ (between Primary & High School) but many of her friends parents have told their DDs 13 or 16.

I had mine done at 10.

[timetosmile]

I'm saying 13 for DD i.e. a 'teenage' thing.
I've never had mine done, DM had said '18' to me, but then I never got around to it for the past 28 years..

[thegreylady]

never :)
ds had one earring for a short time at uni but dd has never bothered despite being very keen in her early teens-she is 38 now.