Ear piercing dilemma - 11 year old

[Jeosn]

My daughter is about to start secondary school and is desperate to have her ears pierced. There are exactly 6 weeks until the start of term. The school do a lot of sport and say no taping is allowed. Earrings must be removed for every PE games lesson and sports club. Is 6 weeks too soon for her to remove and reinsert the earrings by herself at school? I'm concerned that it is. The problem is there is no good time. But maybe she will manage better when she is a bit older.

With good aftercare it should be fine. If they close up after 1 day without them then you'll at least have tried and can revisit them the next summer.

It’s an absolute pain trying to time it, short of waiting until they leave school. Ours has a rule of no earrings at any time (not just for sport). We have 9 weeks holiday so got them done at the very beginning. The piercing place said 9 weeks wasn’t really long enough. However, we had no choice but to take them out. She uses clear studs (you can get flexible clear ones), although does sometimes get told off for them. You can barely see them.

I would definitely recommend getting them done with a needle (not any type of gun, regardless of what the jewellers tell you!). We’ve had no problems whatsoever and they’ve healed really well.

The only thing I would say is that I wouldn’t wear anything, even clear ones, for contact sports (including netball).

DD had hers done at the end of Y5 and had absolutely no issues getting them in and out again by the end of the summer holiday. It takes a bit of practice but she had a vested interest in working it out! The silicone clear studs are also great, she recently had her helix done and used one for county netball trials as it was still healing and it wasn’t noticed.

I followed that guidance and got really sore ears. We were also told to turn the studs! Ouch. Modern advice is to leave them alone and leave them in for much longer.

🤣🤣🤣

As a netball umpire can I just say it not being noticed really shouldn’t be the goal. Not being allowed earrings in for netball is basic safety for the wearer, there’s a very real chance of it being caught on someone else’s clothing and being ripped out. I am surprised that your daughter isn’t aware of this if she’s playing county netball. (I’d be less concerned about 11 year olds playing netball in a PE lesson, tape would usually be ok in this situation.)

Should be ok ive had mine done years ago and had no issue, used to use tape on the at school PE.
Piercings are quite personal ive got a few now

There should not be an issue, apply tape to protect them if you have to, lots people have them done

I came on to say silicone earrings.

Also what is her hairstyle? Silicone and the right hairstyle can hide a multitude of sins.

This! There’s no way I’d allow mine to wear any jewellery whatsoever for netball. The chance of it getting ripped out (including a clear one) is fairly high compared with other sports.

They will be fine. Its just ear piercing not spinal surgery. Ridiculous not to allow studs, how many ears are lost a year to school PE? Exactly zero, its just another of those silly rules. And I say this an an A and E nurse of about 200 years. She wants to do it, she is 11 and it will make her happy, people on here will act like its abuse and say get them done with a needle but it is such a minute, tiny little thing in the scheme of life and something an 11 year old will remember.

Agree with the umpire, serious sport requires safety precautions but a potty little school PE lesson isn't able issue and if it is, that is down to poor supervision and teaching. The worse the state school, the more draconian the rules to create an impression of control. I have never known private schools not allow studs, I moonlight as a school nurse in a boarding school and haven't had to stitch any ears back on yet. I would, however, ban cricket. Never worked a summer term without complex open and spiral fractures.

My kids used spacers for PE days. They also use them in their second piercings now they are older as only one piercing allowed. Only thing I would be conscious is if you are going away for summer - beach and pools not ideal.

At 11 I would do it.
6 weeks should be long enough.

It's not a "real gamble" its a small possibility.

Explain it to her, explain the importance of keeping it clean and the chance it may heal over. Help her keep it clea over summer.

Go get it done.

Totally agree with this. I have two in each ear and set 2 was done at Claire’s (in the late 90s) and they have often caused me issues even though they are still there now

I would let her do it - she’s 11. Definitely capable of taking earrings out and putting them back in. 6 weeks of healing will be absolutely fine as long as she puts them back in asap.

When is she meant to get them pierced otherwise?

Hi OP

My DD was in exactly the same situation. But we went ahead as I thought they would heal in time.

they did not!!! In the end it was after October half term when they were finally properly healed enough to take earrings out and put them back in on sport days. And they were done by excellent piercer with needle. They were find, not a single problem, but just did not sufficiently heal before about 12 weeks. We went back and checked with the piercer right before school went back and they confirmed no not healed yet, said some ears just take longer.

I was worried as DD school was very clear in their instructions that they don’t allow taping. I emailed sports teacher apologising and explaining. She was ok about it, said fine to tape for a few weeks. In the end it was closer to 2 months that DD had to tape for. Sports teacher wasn’t thrilled but was ok. Was a bit odd that she wasn’t that understanding as genuinely I assume this happens a lot? Or maybe we really were an exception and most do heal a lot faster. Anyway, DD and I were both apologetic and polite and it was ok.

When she finally was able to take them out and struggled a bit the first couple of times getting them back in, friends helped her.

I personally would go for it and email school if you need to.