Thoughts on ear piercing on a 4 year old

michaels_girl

I always said that I'd let kiddo get her ears pierced once she asked and was able to take care of them, but I was thinking it would be closer to 7 or 8 when this happened. I don't count her as being fully able to take care of them, but she is learning about responsibility and has a few chores around the house for her allowance.  Her cousin (6 months younger) had hers done and now she is very excited to do it.  I informed her that it hurt and there are needles (we'd go to the pedi office, so she knows about needles there) and she wasn't deterred.  Thoughts?  I could make this into a big girl/big sister thing and make a day of it or something.

michaels_girl

EllaHella:

Just because they are old enough to ask doesn't mean they are old enough to grasp that it hurts and takes after care.  I am not a fan of piercing little girls ears at such a young age.  I cringe when I see it irl and on tb.  It's worse than jorts.

I'm trying to walk that line where I feel like an ass that's trying to scare my kid out of something vs. really trying to make an unreasonable by nature preschooler fully understand that this HURTS and it's not to be taken lightly. This has been on going for a week so far, so I'm waiting it out a bit as well.

CoffeeBeen

EllaHella:

Just because they are old enough to ask doesn't mean they are old enough to grasp that it hurts and takes after care.  I am not a fan of piercing little girls ears at such a young age.  I cringe when I see it irl and on tb.  It's worse than jorts.

 

I'd try to distract her until she's old enough to make a more informed decision. 

MrsJakes

I don't see anything wrong with it. I got mine pierced at 4 (about 2 months shy of turning 5), and I never had any problems with them. My mom taught me how to take care of them, and I was always very careful. You can remind her that if she doesn't take care of them, she won't be able to wear her earrings anymore, and her holes will go away. I think that always kept me motivated. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as I had expected, but I didn't want to do it again!

JumpingJudahBean

I wouldn't, but that's just me. 

A friend of mine has a 4 y/o that begged to get her ears pierced. Finally she gave in and took her to have it done. They went through all the motions of before the piercing, and when the chick went to just sanitize the area she flipped out, and wouldn't let anyone touch her. 

In my opinion, 4 is too young, but if you're comfortable with it, and comfortable with making sure they are taken care of, go for it.

 

Venus04d

I'd get her the magnet kind or clip ons, but that's just my daughter. I don't plan on allowing my daughters to pierce their ears until they are old enough to pay for it from their allowance and to clean and care for them alone.

missymo

My ears were pierced at 4. I begged for it.  It hurt like hell (way more than I anticipated), but I LOVED having pierced ears.  

I am also waiting until/if my little lady asks for it, but I would have no problem getting it done at 4.  

Venus04d

mbenit4:

I don't see the problem with it.

I got my DD's ears pierced at 2-3 months. We never had any problem.

Piercing baby ears is NMS, but I feel like piercing that young is actually better than preschool age. An infant can't mess with them as much and you obviously take complete control of caring for them, so there is a smaller chance of infection. Not to mention, a baby is clueless about the upcoming pain.

I'm really just talking out of my assthough because I have zero experience.  

Abinormal

If I were in your shoes, with my own daughter, then I would let her get them pierced. However, my daughter, at 2.5, already seems to really understand things that we explain to her. I also have a feeling that by 4, she'd most likely be able to make this decision and understand that we do have to take care of them. However, I'd probably load her up and take her over to the mall and have her watch another child have their ears pierced before I'd let her get her ears done. I'd want her to see what the whole process would entail before she made her final decision.

CoffeeBeen

It sounds like most people that had them pierced when they were young had a good experience. I had them pierced and 7 and I completely regret it.  I didn't mind getting them pierced, but I don't really wear earrings so now I just have two holes in my ears. 

But, I'm one of the only people I know that feels this way, if you go by probability you could get them pierced and she'd love it.

CoffeeBeen

mbenit4:

It is one of those things that is the devil on thebump.

Is it really?  I'm surprised because I care so little about it.  Maybe I'll feel differently if I ever have a girl, but for now it seems so minor.

Kitiara5512

Keep in mind you would wind up doing most of the cleaning for her - she is too young to remember on her own and get something like a piercing cleaned without help. I also think at her age she would fuss with and take it out just to look or something and then you wouldn't be able to get it back in.

I had my ears pierced as a baby, and culturally, a lot of little girls do, usually within the first year. I see nothing wrong with it but then my kid wears jorts.

Manateearmz

I honestly don't see what the big deal is. I had mine done at 4 after begging my mother. I don't remember it hurting at all, I don't even think I cried. I do remember making sure that I cleaned them and turned them so they wouldn't close. I also remember picking out the most fabulous blue earrings ever. 

I would get DD's done soon if i could, the only hold up is my husband wants to wait until she asks for it, so I will respect his wishes. 

TAMLVSCARL

I got my daughter's pierced when she was 4 mos old so I don't see a problem or the big deal with piercing little girls ears. If I had waited longer, I would do them at 4 y/o if she was asking for them.

Sonadora

I won't pierce B's that young, for many reasons, but chief among them being that when I got mine done for my 10th birthday, it turns out that I have a severe metal allergy. Which we didn't figure out right away, but my ears just kept getting infected, it was terrible. I would not want to get them done at a young age for my daughter and find out the same thing, because even as a 10 year old, taking care of repeated infections was not the easiest thing. To this day, if I put earrings in that have any amount of nickel, my ears will blow up into red balloons within minutes.

michaels_girl

Thanks for all the experiences!

and re: baby piercings, in the immortal words of the bump, "Babies are not for bedazzling".   i cannot believe no one broke that one out yet.  man.

evaazalea

DD's were done at 8 weeks with my whole family bugging me to get it done, including my 21 yo male cousin. It's just what's done in my family. My aunt took me to get mine one hen I was 6 months. To me it is just so much easier to have it done and healed while they are tiny and don't know the difference and it's just part of them. I don't really care if someone else thinks its tacky, even with it people still seem to assume she's a boy. ??.

shakes

I'd be fine with it, but then again if I have a little girl I would have them done around 3-4 months. All the girls in our family had them done as infants and there's been no issues. The second holes I had put in at 10 years old were nothing but issues bc I wouldn't stop messing with them and eventually had to take them all out except the original holes.

dmfan897

My DD is almost 4 and I would not trust her to take care of them or not play with them. I am thinking closer to 6 or 7..at least after kindergarten.

CopperT0p

I think it's a highly personal and family decision to make.

My mom never pressured or asked me if I wanted to pierce my ears when I was a kid.  I liked my ears as they were I thought they would be less than perfect with holes in them.  Weird, but that was what I thought.  

When I was 16 I wanted to get my tongue pierced.  My mom told me that she thought I should get my ears pierced first to see what the whole piercing experience was like first before getting my tongue done.  So I went with her to a tattoo/piercing parlor and get my ears done.  Then about two months later I went and got my tongue done.

I am really glad that I waited, it was right for me and my personality.  Of course, 10 years later I rarely wear earrings, but still have my tongue piercing.   

kimbo1216

My 4-year old niece just got hers done and loves them!  Her nana took her because she asked and really wanted to be able to wear "dangly" ear rings.  She's very prissy.  I don't see the big deal.  But hey, around here, it's normal to pierce as infants.

penguingrrl

My daughter begged and begged so we took her for her fourth birthday. She didn't cry, just flinched for a second from the pain. And she was great about reminding me to take care of them (not that I would forget, but she always brought it up first). She loves wearing her earrings and it hasn't been a problem at all for us. Her sister has started asking so we'll probably let her get it done at 4 as well.

ali_bl-nov05

The thing is that she is old enough to remember the pain but not old enough to care for earrings. I personally think you either do it very early on or wait until she asks to have her ears pierced. If you made it this far just wait a little longer. 

Signed, the mom of the baby with pierced ears. 

grr_aargh

EllaHella:

Just because they are old enough to ask doesn't mean they are old enough to grasp that it hurts and takes after care.  I am not a fan of piercing little girls ears at such a young age.  I cringe when I see it irl and on tb.  It's worse than jorts.

I agree.  My DD (9 1/2) just got hers done this summer.  A 4 YO came into the store to have hers done - and watched my DD (who didn't really do much more than flinch and tear up - no crying or anything) and changed her mind.  Why not get some clip ons and make a thing of it when she's older?

 Not only did I make DD wait until she was 9 1/2, I made her wait 6  months from when I agreed to when we had it done.  I wanted her to be sure.