to let my DD get her ears pierced...

[PuppyMonkey]

... if she's 11 years old...?

I had to wait till I was 13, and then my mum decided to have hers done at the same time! We had them pierced at a Chiropaedist (sorry can't spell, but you know what i mean, a foot person). Weird place to have it done, but it was all very surgucally clean, far better than a hairdressers was my mums argument. We also had our lobes frozed then pierced with a needle. The freezing spray hurt more than the piercing

My Mum let me get them done in the summer holidays just before I went to secondary school. Summer holidays are perfect as you can keep them in for 6 whole weeks and you will have to take them out for PE at school. I felt it was a good age for me, marked a transition from being a child at primary school to one of the big girls at secondary school.

yanbu

Out of interest, did anyone else get told the story at school of the girl who was wearing an earring during PE, then the ball hit her ear and the back pierced her jugular vein and she died...??? I'm sure they trotted out that old chestnut every year at school - does anyone know if it's actually true????

I was very relieved to hear DD headmistress for her school in September say that NO earrings are allowed to be worn at either the infants or junior school!

So I am hoping that DD won't ask until she is about to go to secondary school, which I think is about right.

Not before 14 - but I am seriously old fashioned in lots of areas, so should be ignored. Well,that's what my 12 year old dd says anyway!

i think it is a fine age... and at the end of the day it is your decision.. not ours..

i wouldnt go to claires. i would go to a beauty place... also summer hols are a good time to get them done... they can heal nicelt without PE to worry about

11 is fine i think

babyignoramus - we didn't have that story at my school, but the teachers did tell us a similar story about a girl who was wearing long earrings, and as she was walking down the stairs in school her earring got caught on the clothing of someone else who was walking up the stairs, and her ear lobe was pulled off.

Now I do think it's child abuse to do it to babies and toddlers (flame me all you like). But I don't think there is anything wrong with it from about 5/6 upwards as long as it is the child who is asking and not some wanky whim of the parent.

haven't read it all yet.

i had to give stern instructions to my dh when he took dd away to see her italian gp's not to let anything happen to her that involved piercing.

with his dd1 from previous marriage went over with him, the grandmother ran off with dd1 to chemists and got dd1 ear pierced at 8 month old!

my dd was safe this time. but it's only a matter of time before they have words with me about it. it's expected over there.

she's already recieved 6 sets of earings from her italian relative and she's only 11 month

My 10 yo DD has recently had hers done (is nearly at the 6 week mark), but she is nearly 11.

I don't like to see piercings on very young children either - if something goes wrong (as it can with some people no matter how clean you keep them) it would be much harder to cope with for a baby or small child, i'd imagine. And plus, it's not truly their descision until they reach an age when they are more independent in their choices.

had my daughter done at 11 weeks old
didnt realise this was tantamount to child abuse
i had MINE done at 3 months old
interestingly my dd[now 9] NEVER wears earings EVER but she COULD if she wanted

Why do people have this done to babies and small childen? Is it dumb superstition, herd instinct or what?

I think it depends on the maturity of the child. Some 7 or 8 year olds would be old enough to look after ear piercings and some wouldn't be ready til they're 11 or 12 or even older. I had mine done when I was 8 and cleaned them and turned the studs and all that and have never had any problems with them.

well Im definately not dumb, and not exactly a herd animal so no and errr no on both counts,
because in MY opinion it looks sweet, in YOUR opinion it dosent , i could say that is dumb but I would never be that presumptuous
my baby my choice im afraid
cest la vie

her ears her choice?

My dd got hers done at age 6

BUT

She started asking 6 months ahead, and I said "When you are 6 you can" - thinking that I would have time to slowly brain wash her against it, and I TRULY thought she would forget.

She didn't.

She got them done on her birthday.

It is fine.

We went to Claires as they do both at the same time.

I seem to be the only one who's had problems. My dd had hers done just before her 9th birthday. She'd been begging for months. We went to a hairdresser and they seemed fine.. She was so happy.

BUT they never really healed. She washed them diligently every day for over six weeks and they were still weepy.

So we went to a proper piercing place (which felt a bit funny tbh with her being all young and people with eyebrows pierced. They seemed more serious and organised than the hairdresser. I told them the problem and they said it could be because we used dilute savlon to clean (to harsh) and because we went to the swimming pool too early.

So we did the whole thing again 'properly'. BUT the same thing happened again. Now my dd is 9, nearly 10 and very upset about the time wasted, the pain she went through but most of all that at the end of it all SHE HASN'T GOT PIERCED EARS despite doing everything she was told, to the letter, TWICE.

I had mine done just after my fourth birthday. It truly was my choice, my parents insisted that it would really hurt but I was determined. My 6 year old sister had just had hers done, of course. Eventually they agreed, I got them done, no problems, and I didn't even cry.

And my parents are definitely not chavs, hippies maybe, but not chavs.

Spidermama, does your DD wear any other kind of jewellery? And if so, does she have problems with skin rashes? This could be some sort of metal allergy.
(Maybe be TMI here) I have pierced ears (two holes per ear) the first piercings were done with gold studs and healed OK with only one or two bouts of soreness, 2nd piercings some years later were troublesome and then when I had a nipple piercing that was a real nightmare (and has now gone) - someone said then that some people just don't take to piercing).

if i had a dd i would probably hold out until 14 if i could.

Slur - my ears aren't pierced either. Got mine done when i was 14, didn't get instructions of how to care for them, couldn't clean them on my own adequately (as nobody showed me how). Had no older siblings with piercings, and my mum never had hers done, so they didn't know what to do either, and when i decided i would take the earrings out (after only one week) to clean around the holes as they were weeping, i obviously couldn't put them back in, and hence I now have no pierced ears

I'm surprised i gave in when DD was 10 really. She got to change hers for the first time yesterday.

I'm 25 and had my done when I was very young maybe a few months or something. Are ym parents barbaric? I thought having them done this young was the norm?

But to answer the questionI think 11 is fine as long as it's outside of school time and you think your DD could clean them etc herself; it will be her chance to have some responsibility & feel grown up.