Ear piercing? What age?

[MaryJane]

i was 10 when i got mine done and they got infected so i let them close up. sometime after i got a drivers licence i went to walmart and had them done again and without problem. then when i worked for walmart i was a jewelry associate and had to do the piercing. i got second holes as part of training, and they do not take piercing lightly, they had a systematic process of training for it and you had to do an associate volunteer first and then be supervised for an adult customer and the only way they would do a child under the age of 10 was if there were 2 associates to do it. if there werent 2 associates the customer was asked to return at a time when there was 2.
i will not pierce my childs ears untill she is old enough to care for them herself.

I'm sure they train the people in the mall as well, but if the piercing is being done with any type of gun type piercer then it isn't being done correctly, and it can cause damage.

[Krystal5]

Whenever she asks. Last summer she wanted to so we went to the place and she changed her mind. That was perfectly fine and I told her whenever she wants, or if she never she wants-totally up to her.

This, exactly, with no age requirements or the need for her to care for them herself. I think earrings on little girls are ADORABLE, and if she said she wanted them now (2 years 10 months), I'd take her to a piercing parlor and show her and if she went through with it, then I'd love it, even if I had to care for them! But she's not asking (despite loving my earrings), and I'm not pushing, and never will. And even if she did ask now, or anytime in the next... 8 or so years, I suspect she would change her mind when I brought her in, too.

Though, if she were to ever ask for any other type of piercing, she would have to be old enough and able to 100% care for it herself. I'm not going to be tending to her nose ring!

[Racegirl766k]

I didn't know the guns were so bad.

Here is a good article on why the guns are so bad. http://jewelry.about.com/od/bodyjewe...rcing_guns.htm

[OhBaby]

When she goes to HS

[Mom22]

When she asks and can take care of them.

[Julbella78]

When did you/will you allow your child to get their ears pierced?DD1 picked out a necklace and earring set that was on display to show us the other day. DH surprised me by saying that if she wanted her ears pierced right now, he would be ok with that. Me, not so much. But it got me thinking about it again.

I think it's a personal or cultural choice for only the parents to make. With my daughter, I wanted to wait until she asked and then we had a fun mother/daughter day and she picked out her own earrings. If I have a girl this time around (please God let it be a boy haha), I will do the same thing. That being said, they are cute on babies and I hear the younger they are the easier it is with earrings. It's still a battle somedays with my daughter.

[RaeJ]

I don't have a daughter, but I was 7 when I had mine done for my birthday. Old enough to remember it clearly. My dad took me to a professional piercer (my mom didn't know what he had taken me to do). I was in charge of spinning the studs and cleaning my ears to prevent infection - I was that child that didn't let anyone clean wounds without screaming bloody murder, but I could pick at them myself just fine.

If I have a daughter, I think I would have it done elementary school age (I feel like my age was a good age) for ears. Anything else pierced will have to wait until they move out of my house

**Edit: My mom had her ears pierced (in adulthood) by her doctor... he didn't make them even so make sure if/when you have them done, they draw the hole spots first so you can approve spacing!

[impatient]

I had mine done at 6 yo. It was horrible - I got infected no matter what type of metal we tried. I gave up on them after several months and let the holes close. It was done by a dr in his office in the hospital so the environment was clean and odds are he knew what he was doing. I tried again at 18 - done in a store with a gun - with the same result. I have not wanted earrings since. It is kind of odd that my mom waited because in our culture, little girls get them when they are a few weeks old (nurse or dr does the piercing). With my history, I will discourage DD for as long as I can ... At least until she is old enough to understand it may get infected and hurt. She has lots of issues with sensitive skin that I am having trouble figuring out so I would not rush it. But otherwise I would probably be okay if she asked for it once she is school age.

[mohop]

My 4.5 year old just got hers done a few days ago. She's been asking for months, as most of her friends have had pierced ears since they were infants. DH wasn't that keen on it at first, but eventually thought that her "big girl behavior" warranted this "big girl" thing that she really wanted. Here, it is done by pharmacists. So far, everything has been fine and she is very excited about having earrings. I made sure to explain to her that having her ears pierced does not mean she gets to wear a bunch of different earrings and that she will, for the most part, wear the same earrings (at least 18 K gold, as I have a history of skin sensitivity) all the time.