Piercing…hear me out- August 18, 2011
Someone asked me the other day if I would be getting my infant daughter’s ears pierced. The short answer is..no. I won’t.
Lots of people get their baby girls’ ears pierced as a cultural thing. I think that’s cool. I’m not knocking generations of a family or anything. Some people think it’s better to get it done when the girl is little so she won’t remember the pain of metal rods being shoved in sensitive flaps of skin. (::pause:: Ew. That sentence alone would turn anyone off to “down there” piercings.) I’ve heard of parents who do it when their daughters are babies because I think the doctor has to do it and that’s supposedly safer.
I’ve heard the arguments against it, “Why would you subject your daughter to that pain?!” “Let her make her own decision!”
Yeah, yeah. There’s one real reason I won’t, this girl right here….
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| Why do I always have red eyes? ::sigh:: |
In 3rd grade I stared at a new school. I knew what I wanted for my 8th birthday. New school, new friends, and pierced ears. That’s all I wanted, pierced ears. A couple of weeks before my birthday mom took me to Cary Village Mall. It was the world’s tiniest, crappiest mall with maybe two department stores before the “big upgrade” to Cary Towne Center. (See, towne has a “e” so you know this upgrade was high class.) But, Cary Village Mall had a freakin Claire’s ya’ll, a Claire’s boutique! Claire’s! The place with all the sparkly plastic junk a tween girl could want. They even had New Kids On The Block buttons and Best Friend necklaces you could share with the lucky gal you gave the other half to. It was a florescent lit heaven, and I was going there for this life changing event.
Mom and Dad agreed 8 was an okay age for this, and off we went. My sister Julie was still 5 and unbelieveably nervous for me as we walked in The girls at the store sat me up in the high stool and handed me a placard with about a dozen different beginner studs to choose from. After much pondering I went with the 24k gold hearts with the “diamonds” in them. When I asked Mom if they were real diamonds she winked at the clerk and said she wasn’t sure, but said they “sure were pretty!” I agreed and waited patiently as they used ballpoint pen to mark where the holes would go.
When kids get pierced they have two people fire the guns at the same time so you don’t chicken out after the first ear. When I had been all alcohol swabbed and prepped, Mom asked me one more time, “Are you sure?” I took a deep breath and said I was.
::POP::
Ow! That was my first “pain to be pretty” lesson for sure. I put on a brave face and leaked minimal tears. Julie, on the other hand, was a little shaken at my reddened lobes.
I carefully turned and cleaned the studs everyday. My ears were pierced for the first day of school. I marked 6 weeks on my calendar. That was the day I could switch out earrings. I got tons of little Claires boxes filled with $1.99 nickel-free colorful earrings at my birthday party. Some were even dangly ones! I was big time!
Spread it around:
I had the same experience..claires and and all..except I was 7
My mom wouldn't let me get my ears pierced until I was thirteen. Thirteen was this big deal, and I paid my dues. When I was thirteen, I went to the Claire's at the Cary mall, except by then (1993) I believe it had transitioned to Cary Towne Center, and got them pierced. Then my mom let my little sister get hers pierced about three weeks later. She was eight. Sometimes being the oldest sucks. I completely remember Cary Village, though. My mom still calls that mall Cary Village.
I agree with you and I love your reason behind it better than mine (if we are blessed with a girl); I think pierced ears take away a young girls innocent looks….IMO.
i got mine done at claires too. and i was 12, but i didnt want it done until then. then they closed up because i really couldnt have cared less about them and got it redone at 16. and i pretty much only wear my real diamond studs that my hubby got me because im allergic to nickel. oh and why the heck would i want to make my baby cry on purpose if it isnt for a life saving action???
Aww…that is very sweet!! My 5-year-old has talked about it a little but it doesn't seem to be that important to her, which I'm glad about. I'd love it if she'd wait a little longer but if it becomes an obsession I may just go with it.
hehe, yes back in my/our day, getting pierced ears was a 'right of passage' as a girl! I remember Cary Village Mall and Claire's. It was THE place to get your girly stuff hehe
Please don't get her ears pierced with a piercing gun! Piercing guns cannot be fully sterilized the way needles can, so you'd be opening Charlotte up to infections and the trauma of the piercing gun leads to much higher rates of jewelry embedding in the skin and nasty scarring like keloids.
This is the same reason I am waiting too – I remember how excited I was to go and get mine done.
I had my ears pierced for the first time when I was around 2 or 3. I vaugely remember it. Not sure what made my more chose to do it at that age. I added two more holes to each ear before I hit 20. When Abby was an infant my husband and I had the same discussion and looked at it from both angles and decided that we would wait until she asked. We want it to be her choice. I remember an episode of Jon & Kate plus 8 {believe me I shudder as I write this} where one of the twins asked to get her ears pierced for her special day and they made a big day out of it which I thought was a fun idea so we would like to do the same for Abby when she is old enough,can take care of them, and asks.
I don't remember how old I was when I got my ears pierced.. but I know that I was old enough to remember it! I also went to Claires; it might have even been at Cary Towne center.
All I really remember is that there was a stuffed bunny there…. and she had her ears pierced. amazing. I then went home and pierced all of my stuffed animals ears