What age do you let your daughter have her ears pierced?

[Scrunchy95]

My daughter is 9, turning 10 in May. Quite a few girls in her year are getting their ears pierced, I assume as a 10th birthday present. She has asked when she will be allowed to have her ears pierced. I’m completely supportive, she should be allowed pierced ears, but it’s my baby girl. She still seems so tiny and it’s weirdly brutal to imagine happening. Then it’s a very noticeable part of her appearance. My gut as a Mum tells me to wait until she is 12 as this is more the cusp of becoming a teenager and a woman. But I remember being her age and desperately wanting to join the crowd with pierced ears. I don’t judge others with younger children with pierced ears this is completely personal. What age do you think it is acceptable to let your daughter pierce her ears? I’m open to influence.

My dds were 8. I’m not sure what this “looking after them themselves” means? You just leave them alone and they heal

I was 11 and remember all the faff with surgical spirits in a glass bottle. I love earrings though and its the only jewellery I wear so I'll prob let DD when she asks- she's 10 now and no interest yet.

My daughter is currently 7 and I don’t feel she would be old enough to look after them by herself properly yet. I think 10 seems like a good age and so the summer hols after will probably be when we do it too - will be nice to have them done for last year of primary. I think as a child I was 12 when mine were done and my mum still wasn’t really keen then.

In total contrast there are a couple of girls in my ds’s year who already had 2 sets when they were 9. Each to their own but I find that excessive at such a young age.

Mine was 16 yrs, old enough to choose a hygienic, good venue in which to get it done (checked out by me) and do all the after-care properly by herself.

I'd say as young as possible but I'm fully aware I'm the minority, especially on here.
I had mine done as soon as I was old enough. And I think the younger the better as you never know anything else

If my dd asks for hers done I'd let her do it from any age over 7 I think. I don't see it as a big deal, though wouldn't suggest it myself. I'd wait for her to ask. I used to be covered in piercings but don't even wear earrings nowadays (mainly because my body decided it was allergic to everything when I was about 25.)

tiredanddangerous my DD was given a booklet containing instructions about regular cleaning along with two products to wash and disinfect. She had to clean and turn them quite often initially iirc.

I made DD wait until the first day of the Summer holidays when she left year six. She had them done at a piercer and I paid quite a lot to make sure they were great earrings. I also made sure she cared for them really well and never wears cheap earrings.
Last year, aged 13 she was diagnosed with two congenital heart defects and will require open heart surgery. One of the first things her paediatric cardiologist said was no more piercings or tattoos because of the risk of infectious endocarditis. Obviously, if we had known she about the CHD we would never have had her ears pierced but I'm glad we took every safety precaution we could when they were done.

Think DD was 8. She was sensible and looked after them well, no problems. Picked my battles!

When my dd asked, her cousin had just developed an allergy after having her ears pierced. I told dd that since this was an unnecessary procedure that could potentially affect her ,I thought it was only fair that it should only be done when she was old enough to take responsibility for it herself and set that at age 16. Harsh perhaps but she didn't seem majorly upset. Still hasn't had them done though she's 23.

14...to be honest i am not sure why she bothered as her school were strict and it was studs only. She is 16 now and has a nice selection of ear rings.

To the posters saying 16, that is the age they can have sex!
What the hell is so serious about having pierced ears?
I was 8 and many of my friends had them at 7.
I think year 5 or 6 for mine though neither of them want to.

My 11 year old is having them pierced the first day of the summer holidays. She has been asking since she was 7.

@happymummy12345 I agree with you tbh, it’s controversial atm but my dd has here done at 4weeks, she never as much as flinched they didn’t get infected etc as you keep a baby so clean anyway and she never pulled them as they’ve always been there. Then again all the girls in my family have always had them done from babies and is seen as normal in the area I’m at. I don’t see why it’s seen as grown up tbh but understand different family’s have different ideas and traditions. I would not want to send the message though that they can’t change there appearance only on the basis that there dad won’t like it.

IdBlowJonSnow, I didn't say everyone needs to make it age 16, just that I did.

It didn't seem a particularly important thing to get done, I wasn't particularly interested in paying for it, and as I said, her cousin's health had actually been affected by ear piercing.

I think she was 8 but they never healed so DH took her last year when she was 10. They seem to have healed much better this time.

10th birthday. And at a specialist piercing place, not bloody clairs accessories!

It is indeed the age at which sex becomes legal and they could sleep with different people every day for a year. I’d be pretty if that was a choice they made though.
For us it was about respecting parental authority. It was about it being a conscious informed decision - one chose not to and still has unpierced ears. It was about learning that sometimes you wait for what you want and sometimes you’re just too young. Instant gratification is a huge issue nowadays.
It’s also rather common to see little ones with earrings that are a form of sexual signalling - we wanted ours to retain childishness until adulthood.

Her 5th birthday present , in the school summer holidays , It was fine , she was young enough to let me do the aftercare , she’s 23 now and always has nice earrings on

I always told DD 16 - even as her friends were all having them done at 11. I was nagged to pieces for a couple of years. It then stopped. When she was 15, she said 'I suppose I'll get mine done when I'm 16', and I agreed that she was old enough and sensible enough to have them done whenever she wanted - so ended up at 15. She was excellent with them, very particular about caring for her ears, and has never had any problems.

Unlike her mother, who to date has had them done 3 times, as they keep sealing over!

IdblowJonSnow each to their own. Just because you can legally have sex or join the army at sixteen or whatever, doesn't necessarily mean you should, or that you have the maturity to do iso. I agee ear-piercing is at the milder end of the spectrum of what is possible at that age, but I wanted my daughter to have a proper understanding of what she was doing before she allowed someone to stick a needle through part of her body.

I had mine done in the summer after finishing primary so that's what my son did too.

30 + years ago my SIL took my DD aged 3 out to buy sweets and she came back with her ears pierced ! My DD2 was probably 12 . My friend pierced mine with a hot needle and a cork when I was 14 ... happy days 😆

Mine had hers done on her 8th birthday. I’ve always had the view of she can have them when she asked for them!