Would you let your 7yo get her ears pierced? (If not then what age?)

[Crunchymum]

Sorry title is a bit "click-baity". It's more of a hypothetical question.

Our almost 7yo has asked alot but she has been given a firm no from both me and DP.

To me it seems something that is done when they are very young by parents or when they are old enough to make such a decision? (13+)

Although I recall my mum taking me off when I was quite young to get them done (would have been late 80's)

We are not about to relent but does anyone let their young children get their ears pierced these days?

Yes

Younger if they wanted to

I asked for it when I was 10, the doctor did it.

I forgot to answer, yes I would allow it if it was their idea.

All of my DDs got theirs pierced at 7 (at Claire's, with an ear gun). It was around the time of First Communion and many of their classmates were also sporting little gold studs on the big day.

I don't see what the fuss is about. I had mine done at 14 in a jewelers in Dublin. They told me to twist the studs daily and rub vaseline on back and front for a week or so to make sure the holes didn't close up. My DDs threw away the Claire's solution and followed the Vaseline advice.

One DD put in a pair of tiny studs after her initial piercing had healed - one tiny stud went backwards into her earlobe one night and had to be taken out by a doctor. She got the ear re-pierced when the hole closed up, and then went on to get two more lobe piercings in each ear in her teens.

I developed my extreme nickel allergy after a gun piercing.
@NavigatingAdolescence, are you saying it was the method of piercing and not the earring itself that caused your allergic reaction? I have an extreme nickel allergy which came to light when I put in cheap earrings long after having my ears pierced.

I don't know why people get worked up about it either tbh. I have 4 dds, they all had their ears pierced with a gun and had no issues at all

Maybe I'm just seriously unlucky but I've got 7 piercings in my ears (was 8) and it was only until I read the stuff on here about Claires guns being terrible and changed to needle piercings that I started having problems with them.

I finally gave up on one of the needle ones last week after almost two years of issues with it.

All the Claire's gun ones have healed like a dream (including the initial 2 I got for my 8th birthday) and they're all nice and flat at the back instead of a weird point that comes and goes.

Like I said maybe I'm just extremely unlucky that both Claires have been excellent and both studios have been shit, but I'll 100% be taking youngest DD to Claires when she asks. Same as her sister who we also had 0 problems with.

My sons were pierced as a baby, I have no idea how old he was when they were done. I don’t let him wear earrings and I won’t until secondary school. At primary play can still be physically close to other children, I don’t want the risk of an earring being caught, ripped out etc.

Once he’s 11/12 he’s more likely to remember to take them out and play is generally different.

When I started school at 5 there was a girl with pierced ears and I asked my mum if I could get mine done, she finally said yes when I was 14.

Most of the girls at school seemed to get theirs done in the last 2 years of primary so I found that hard when almost everyone was getting theirs done.

I used to do stupid things like sleep with clip on earrings on to pretend they were pierced. Not something I would recommend.

I think it depends on the child and how well they are going to care for them.

I had mine done when I was 8. My 6 year old has been asking to get hers done but she screamed when getting her flu vaccine so I said not until she can have her needles without screaming. Also she has to be old enough to take care of them. I was quite capable at 8 so I think we will probably get my daughters done then too if she still wants them.

DD was 6 and came home from school and asked. One of her friends in her class had got hers done and tbh I just didn’t want it becoming a big deal. In Australia it is perfectly normal for a 6yo to have pierced ears, it doesn’t have the kind of weird “common” connotation it has in the UK. The main issue is schools insisting kids need to be able to remove earrings for sport/PE so we had to wait until the next school holidays. She looked after them herself with no problems. She has just had her seconds done aged 18 as school would only allow a single set of studs.

@LuckyAmy1986

I think you are doing the right thing. She doesn't need her ears pierced at 7, let her be a child.

Yeah because getting their ears pierced means they're no longer children.

FGS

I used to be snobby about this - an inherited view from my own misguided parents.

I then lived abroad and in other cultures and soon faced up to my own small minded prejudices about many things 😁

When my youngest asked, she was 5 and the only girl in her class at school without pierced ears. She wanted them. I could get them done safely and accurately. She was allowed to wear them in school. So I let her.

I always said when she left primary but her secondary have a ban on jewellery until 6th form. So that's that.
I have a few ear piercings so she knows the rules - a piercer with a needle and not a gun. We will probably go together when she has done her GCSE"s.
Personally I wouldn't let her have them done at primary age.

DD was 11. Whatever you decide, it's much easier to do it at the start of the summer hols.

My mum was very against it but eventually caved in when my sister and I were teenagers.

I subsequently had a second piercing in one ear in my forties, which my mum is convinced is the road to ruin and I'll be covered in tattoos before long. :-)

I always took the view that the absolute earliest I would permit it for my own daughter would be the start of the summer holidays at the end of primary school, so they were fully healed and she would be experienced in managing them before secondary PE started.

My daughter is older than that now and has never once asked to have her ears pierced. She does not want it done. It will be interesting to see if/how things change through the teenage years.

I was 10, aged 14 I ripped my earring out on my pillow in my sleep.

I had corrective surgery at 15 as my ear was like a snakes tongue, horrific, knocked my confidence, couldn't wear my hair up etc.

It healed lovely thanks to the surgeon and I had it repierced (with go ahead from dr) at 16 for my prom and I've worn little diamanté studs ever since.

However, that lobe is slightly misshaped and the piercing is off centre as they wouldn't pierce through scar tissue.

For these reasons, I will make my children wait as long as possible.

My DD’s will be 10 and 11 this year and neither have asked, thankfully. Eldest DD hates the idea of it all together, she thinks it will be majorly painful. Both have noted how inconvenient they are at school because you have to cover them with plasters during sports. I’d say 13 is a decent age to let them decide.

Ds2 turned 8 in lockdown one and was insistent he wanted his done - DW did it for him as he didn't want to wait (she is a qualified piercist, not a random person )

No, not at that age. Start of secondary school was our rule.