6yo asking to have her ears pierced...

[Whatsername17]

Wibu to let her? I'm thinking at the beginning of the holiday so they have time to heal ready for school. I didn't anticipate her asking this of me so young.

[SoupDragon]

And it is not the case with any of the secondary schools where I live.

[LottieandMia]

'Claire's use a gun LottieandMia, being opposed to that really has nothing to do with snobbery.'

Yes I know it's better to go to a tattoo place and have it done with an actual needle but a child might not enjoy that so much / might find a tattoo shop a little intense. A lot of people have it done with a gun - it usually turns out fine.

[Whatsername17]

Oh I see the erroneous '!!! Sorry, auto correct fail!

[LottieandMia]

If you don't want to go to Claire's another option is jewellers like F Hinds. Usually their rule is that the child has to be at least 6 years old with written consent from parent or 12 years old to not have to get parents consent.

[KERALA1]

I think only when they can be trusted to care for them scrupulously so for dd1 that was 10. 6 too young to do all the turning and sterilising and not doing that for them (lazy mum)

Freaked her out as she kept asking then one random day after school I just said yep let's go and she was . She loves her earrings and hasn't had any problems.

[KERALA1]

We went to the local beauticians they wouldn't do under 10s as the manager didn't agree with it

[UserThenLotsOfNumbers]

I had my ears pierced at age 6 or 7. My husband and his ex didn't allow their daughters to have their ears pierced until 12 though. I don't agree with Baby and toddler ear piercing; the child has to be old enough to be trusted not to fiddle with and pull out the earrings. Schools seem to be stricter re piercings nowadays so it depends on your schools policy (some don't allow earrings at all, even studs).

[MissGiddyPants]

I personally think sticking a needle through a baby's earlobe is child abuse.

Dd had hers done at 16.

[Whatsername17]

I agree and wouldn't pierce a baby's ears. My dd is 6 though, not a baby.

[Paninotogo]

What a ridiculous thing to say missgiddypants, you are completely minimising incidences of actual child abuse by comparing it to ear piercing.

[MissGiddyPants]

So sticking needles needlessly into a child is perfectly fine then?

[RebelandaStunner]

DD was almost 9. We went the week before breaking up for summer holidays as there was no PE that week. She looked after them herself which we discussed and watched YouTube videos of a couple of weeks before. Didn't have any problems.

[thinkfast]

I wouldn't. I had mine done at 13. My ears hadn't stopped growing and the piercings are no longer central/even

[whynomoresmileyfaces]

I begged my DM to have my ears pierced from about aged 3. She finally relented when I was 5. It stung a bit from what I remember but I never had any problems of infections. I swam with them straight away too. If a child is old enough to understand and asks then it is not harmful in my opinion, if DD asked aged 5 I would let her but not before. I fully understood aged 5 and looked after my ears myself as my DM never had pierced ears.

[steppemum]

dd is 12, she ahs been asking for years and I agreed she could have them done for secondary school.

No-one would use a needle on her, they all said they would only use a gun on a child. Can't rememebr the age limit before they would use a needle, 13?

In the end we did it at Easter not the sumemr as I remember it took longer than 6 weeks to heal.
We followed the instructions to the letter, they healed nicely, but she was not able to comfortably take them in and out in 6 weeks, I think it took about 3 months. By Sept and secondary school she could just do them herself.
She has to remove them for pe at school.

It was partly because it was fiddly to get the back off the studs, and partly because they hurt to do that until about 8-10 weeks.
Also, she lost ona earing one day after pe, and I think that had that happened too soon after piercing then we would ahve struggle dot get another earing in in the evening.

[alphabetti]

My daughter had hers done age 5 at Claire's. They healed well we taught her how to look after them and she kept a pack of plasters in her bag incase she was asked to cover them for PE, dance, gymnastics class. Think it was only gymnastics class that she had to cover them for.

They healed well and by the age of 8 she was able to take them in/out herself. I find that it is when they are older they are asked to remove them for PE so I think it's better they are done earlier and are then well healed when they older so can put them in/out themselves.

My daughter now age 11 in year 6 and most of her friends have had them done. They mainly just wear earrings (studs) on weekend or for parties tho and leave them out for school. One of her friends is desperate for them but not allowed until she's 16. I persobally think just let her have then done it's not the same as her choosing a tattoo across her face!

[SquirmOfEels]

If she plays rugby, she'll need to take the earrings out completely (even for the lower contact versions). Climbing and swimming OK to leave in.

So whichever age you finally go for, time it to be at least 3 months before the start of the training season.

And for the person who asked about whether there was a legal age for piercings, in UK (I think all jurisdictions) there are no laws other than about genital (and nipple?) piercing for which you have to be 18.

However tattoo/piercing parlours require a special licence from the council to operate legally. Conditions of those licences may restrict age. For example, there are London boroughs which ban all piercing of under-16s except earlobe by gun. Parental consent is definitely required for all under 16s, and that might extend to under 18s in some council areas especially for piercings other than earlobe.

[Maudlinmaud]

Dd had hers pierced at 6. In Claire's! She got to hold the Claire Bear and yes they did both at the same time. She didn't find it painful and had been begging me for months to let her have them done. It was expensive about £50 iirc.
My teens then wanted to have their ears pierced but we went to a local beauty parlour, the difference in price was unbelievable. None of mine had any issue with infection and the ears healed well.
My eldest now has several piercings in her ears but she is almost an adult.

[Argeles]

I was very reluctantly allowed to have my ears pierced when I was 6.

I was the last girl in my class to have them done - the majority had theirs pierced as toddlers, and some in reception class. There were also quite a few boys with an ear pierced too, but this was the late 80's-early 90's.

[KERALA1]

Sorry but I wouldn't be happy taking a child into a tattoo parlour. Just doesn't feel right somehow.

[steppemum]

Our local tattoo parlour has a big sign on the door saying No children allowed on the premises!

But Blue Banana, which is a chain of shops selling slightly alternative clothing, has a peircing parlour in the back of the shop. It is pretty professional and much more impressive than Claire's. The all had their certificates up in the wall, not ones issued by the shop itself.

They are always busy and are obvioulsy really experienced doing all types of peircings and I felt they were the best option on our town.

cost was about the same as Claire's, but a large chunk of that was becuase I insisted on gold earrings, as I react to nickel.

[Clalpolly]

A decent jewellers will do it.

[Elphame]

I made my DD wait until she was 11. 5 really is a bit young

[Camomila]

6 seems a bit young if she has to take them on and off for PE, maybe around 8ish she should manage fine?

[Camomila]

It's a shame chemists don't do piercings in the UK, I got mine done by the chemist in Italy! Probably better trained than the staff at Claire's and you don't have to take a DC into a piercing parlour if that makes you feel uncomfortable.