Pierced Ears - What Age?

[UMTerp]

My DD9 is talking about getting her ears pierced. I didn't get mine done until college-aged so I don't have any experience with younger girls and pierced ears. What do you think?

UMTerp

 

[Laura]

I was about to turn 10, so I'd say 9 isn't too soon.

 

[Tiffer]

My Dd's ears were peirced at 6 months old.

One Cartilage peirced at 10 yrs old. She let it close though, it was too much work or her.

 

[Talking Hands]

My DD9 is talking about getting her ears pierced. I didn't get mine done until college-aged so I don't have any experience with younger girls and pierced ears. What do you think?
UMTerp

Where I live many girls have there ears pierced shortly after birth. My youngest had it done at her first office visit. Oldest at 2 months but she was a preemie.

 

[mickeyboat]

I was 12. My mom wanted me to be sure I wanted it done, and to make sure I could take care of them myself.

I would let my 7 (almost 8) year old daughter do it if she wanted. DH is adamantly against it, though. She hasn't pressed the issue, so we haven't gone down that road, yet. I won't go against his wishes if he really insists, but I will argue strongly that I think it is o.k., and hope to change his mind.

Denae

 

[Bethy Lou]

I would wait until she can understand why she has to deal with the pain that comes with cleaning and rotating them. Until they are mature enough to deal with doing that themselves or understanding why it has to be done, I would wait. Someone pierced DD4's ears without permission because we wanted to wait, but I want to care for them now so tissue does not build up around it. She does not understand why she has to deal with the hurt.

 

[lillielil]

I don't think 9 is too young at all. I was six when I got mine pierced, and I was old enough then to look after them while they healed.

 

[swanmom]

With our DD, we were concerned about her being responsible for cleaning and ear care as well as keeping track of earrings and not losing them (or leaving them on the floor for pets to find.) We made an agreement with her that if she could demonstrate that she could be responsible for keeping track of her small items (hair clips, school supplies, lunch money, etc. ) and for regularly keep her bathroom clean then we would be convinced that she could handle pierced ears. At first, she 'messed up' a couple of times and had to be told that she wasn't ready. But then, she really became motivated enough to get her act together. She ended up getting permission to get her ears pierced for her eighth grade graduation - 13 years old. It worked really well for us. She has not missed a day cleaning them properly and has been very responsbile about her earrings. She's proud that she has handled it maturely and I'm happy that there's been no extra work or worry for Mom !!!

 

[freckles and boo]

My girls are five and seven and neither has asked yet. My husband and I have batted this around and will probably let the older one do it when she can show she is responsible enough to deal with it.

As for me, I was nine the first time but had big problems and we had to let the holes close up. I did it again at 16.

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I don't see pierced ears as that big of a deal. My dd is 6 and I really want to get her ears pierced, but she doesn't want to. The decision is up to her, so I'm not going to force her to. I was 9 months when I had mine done the first time.

 

[tink_n_pooh]

I had mine pierced when I was just a few weeks old so I couldn't really say. I had the second holes put in when I was in second grade, so I was about 8 years old. And I had the cartridge pierced for my 12 birthday.

My best friend's DD had her ears pierced at 4 years old and she takes care of them herself. She didn't have any problem taking care of them as they healed. Mom of course showed her what she needed to do and watched to make sure she did everything the right way. Within a month she was completely taking care of her earrings on her own. I think she lost one earring when she was out playing, but then again I've lost more than one earring

 

[Honu]

Personally, I'm not a fan of pierced ears on really young girls (babies through 8-9).

In my area most girls get it done when they get to jr. high. My BIL is insisting my nieces wait until they're 13.

I didn't get mine pierced until I was 14 and was going to HS. I agree waiting until they can care for them on their own is a good thing, a lesson in responsibility.

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

Both of mine got it done at two almost three. That's when they'd been asking for awhile, so we did it. They help keep them clean and enjoy having them.

 

[mommasita]

I was 5..

DD was 6mths or something close to that. I prefer it younger, and all the rotten stuff is out of the way by the time they can change them themselves...

 

[luvmy2sams]

DD first had her ears pierced at age 6. She, unfortunately, has her mom's ears and immediately developed a lovely knot around the piercing. Sometimes no matter how diligent you are with cleaning, etc. you'll still get the knots. We elected to let the holes close over and wait awhile to repierce. She asked again last school year, and we allowed her to try again. She was 8 years old and has had no trouble this time around.

As long as your DD is ready to take on the responsibility of caring for her ears, then I think she'd be fine.

 

[CraftyMouse]

We told our DD that they were her ears and she could get them pierced when she wanted to. I let her know that it would hurt briefly, like a shot at the doctor's office, but that when she was ready she could have it done. We were walking in the mall one day when she was 5 and, out of the blue, she decided she was ready. We had them done that day and she has had no problem with them.

 

[Becky2005]

I really think it's completely up to you as a parent.

I've already told my DD -- 16. I personally have hangups with pierced ears. I don't have them & can't stand to even watch people put their earrings in.

Therefore, I wanted her old enough to deal with all the issues herself because I'm not helping! She can turn them & put the alcohol? or whatever on them so they don't get infected. It's just an EWWW thing for me. I figure by 16, she should be able to handle that all on her own.

On the flip side, she may end up being 18 before she gets it done because she's a gymnast and she can't wear them during competitions, so depending on how long the studs have to stay in, it just may not be feasible until after she is done with gymnastics. I know in HS one of my friends basically had to re-pierce her ears after games since she had just had them done but she had to take them off for the games (one reason for my EWWW factor -- watching her do that freaked me out, the other was my best friend's earlobe was slit from an earring incident).

 

[minnieandme]

I got mine done when I was 3 or 4. My DM took me to get my second hole for my 16th birthday.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

DD#1 got hers done at 5. DD#2 didn't want hers done at 5, but decided to go ahead with it when she was 7. I was 19 when I got mine done!
Just a note if your DD is involved in sports, even in little kids sports--in our town it used to be if you had new earrings you could wear band-aids over them during soccer games, etc. Now you have to remove them, or you don't play--and they don't care if you just got them done. So if you need to keep them in 4-6 weeks (I don't remember exactly) figure out when your DD's season starts or see if you can wait until after the season.
Robin M.

 

[Becky2005]

Just a note if your DD is involved in sports, even in little kids sports--in our town it used to be if you had new earrings you could wear band-aids over them during soccer games, etc. Now you have to remove them, or you don't play--and they don't care if you just got them done. So if you need to keep them in 4-6 weeks (I don't remember exactly) figure out when your DD's season starts or see if you can wait until after the season.
Robin M.

That's how it was in our HS, my friend had just had it done & thought she could just put a band-aid over it...nope. Had to have remove them for each game and this was 20 years ago. Practices were OK but games they needed to be removed.

I know with my DD if she is wearing earrings, she would get a deduction with each pass she made (no reason to get deductions for that!) & her coach WILL make them remove them. She's been competing since about 5 or 6 and that's always been the rule (along in our case with no nail polish either -- that wasn't a rule in volleyball).