Following on from my rant(!) the other day about piercings on animals, children etc. my 10 year old grandaughter has just been to show me her newly pierced ears. "That's lovely" I said through gritted teeth. Thought it best to keep the peace.
My daughter had her ears pierced when she was 10-11...and her granny paid for it! It was her dad who was a bit out of sorts about it. Pierced ears as such do not bother me...in many European countries it is the cultural norm for young girls to have their ears pierced.as it may also have been here,a few generations ago. I certainly don't see it as the same as modern day body piercing.
My 10-year old daughter wanted her ears pierced. "Not unless you have your nose pierced as well" I said. That was in the late 1970's - it wouldn't work now, would it?
Hi Maggie, I'm fine with piercings as long as the person having it done is old enough to understand what's involved & most importantly ... express for themselves they want it done.
Thanks for all your comments, just going to keep it zipped. Her dad, my son, has his ears, nose, eyebrow and bellybutton pierced so I can only pray that ears will be enough for her.
I wasn't allowed until 16 but then my mother was a bit snobby. Times move on and girls mature much earlier so that would be ridiculous now. I'd draw the line at ears though until at least 16.
I don't like seeing babies and toddlers with their ears pierced, but I don't think 10 is that young to have it done.
A couple of years ago Mini Boo then 8 was begging to have her ears pierced, which I luckily changed her mind about by flicking her ears, and telling her it hurts "like that, for aaaaaaaages!", she hasn't asked since ;-)
I refereed the under 10s at a football tournament yesterday and would say that approximately 50% of the girls had their ears pierced. Can't say it ever appealed to me.
I saw a guy on the train today - his ears weren't just pierced, he'd had plugs put in, not round ones but about an inch long so the lobes were stretched downward. He looked strange. (I'd say the same for a woman.)
My eldest son had his nipple pierced on his 16th Birthday and tried to hide it from us until it went septic and his bedroom stunk of TCP. Nothing wrong with pierced ears as long as the child can make that decision themselves and they are old enough to be careful and hygienic with them. Now tattoos -thats a different thing altogether. All my children except the 14 year old are in high management jobs and have various sized tattoos which they can hide at work, but I'll never forget watching my youngest daughter walk down the isle on the day of her wedding with a blinking huge dragon peeping over the top of her dress at the back.
I think my eldest daughter (9 years old) is secretly glad that I won't let her have her ears pierced - she can blame me rather than say she doesn't want them done.
I doubt your granddaughter will regret her decision to have pierced her ears, they can look rather pretty. I wouldn't allow a child to pierce anything else until they were 18, though.
AlwaysConfused.
How would you stop a 17 year old getting her nose pierced then? She can legally do it on her own so unless physical restraint or imprisonment is used you have no power to stop her!