What Age Do Think It Is Appropriate for a Girl to Get Her Ears Pierced?

Got my daughters ears done around two months old. I see nothing wrong with a girl wanting to wear earrings.

My mom made me wait until I was 7 yo then she got hers done. My daughters's were both 5 yo when they got their ears pierced.

When they can take care of them by themselves. They need a lot of care early on. I am thinking 12. My girls were like 13 and 15.

I had to wait until I was 16. My daughters will probably have to wait until they are 12 or 13yo.

Or maybe never. My oldest _screams_ when I try to brush her hair, no matter how gently. She also obsesses over every minor owie. I can't imagine her dealing with her ears healing up (or, god forbid, getting infected).

Whatever YOU feel is appropriate for YOUR family is the appropriate age. There are cultures where babies have their ears pierced. Other families make their kids wait till they're adults. There is no one age that's appropriate for everyone.

I got mine pierced at 7, my sister was 5, we got it done together. My daughters were 4 and 6 when they had their ears pierced. It was the right time for them as it was for me. My 6yr old niece doesn't have pierced ears - she just hasn't shown any interest in having it done.

Whatever YOU decide is what's right.

I did my daughter when she was 3 months old.

I used to think when a child wanted it done..

I had my ears pierced when I was seven or eight.. Now, I think it's one of those things that could have waited. In my case, one ear was pierced slightly too low. .but because I had it done at such a young age, it won't close up.. of course, I am probably the only one who notices it.. I just think piercing can wait until a person is older.. as it was , even at 7 or 8, I was the oldest among my friends at time... I had known some who had it done when they were babies... even so..... I still think it can wait.. then when 18.. they can do what they want.. same goes with tattoos.. which I strongly discourage..since as your skin ages so does the tat...... but hey... that's just me.. :)

You have to do what is right for your family. In my home it has always been when they are old enough to ask, and since I don't parent with double standards that goes for my boys as well. My youngest had his done at 3, my older child at 7. That was when they asked.

RM:

I had to wait until I was 13.
My daughter was 13.

If she is up for the responsibility of caring for her ears - and you are comfortable with it? GO FOR IT. But ONLY IF you are comfortable with it and she is up for the responsibility of cleaning, twisting, etc.

Good luck!

I had to wait until I was 14, it was worth the wait. My mothers thought, and I agree, was that of if you do it all now then what will you have to do as you grow up?

My parents were verrrry old fashioned, too, and made me wait until I was 13. We're making ours wait until she's 10. Something to look forward to; she has two more years to go.

It varies from child to child. We decided that our girls could get their ears pierced when they were old enough to take care of their ears, understand that there will be some pain, and asked on their own (not prompted by, ummm helpful? family members or friends). They were 8, 7, and 6 when they got them done.

When they are old enough to care for their ears and earrings themselves, my girls were 8 and 9.
Same thing with long hair, I let them grow it out when they could keep it clean and brushed themselves.
I don't see how so many people connect pierced ears with being an adult, or a sign of sexuality, is it a cultural thing?

I was 5.

I would probably say if I had a little girl I'd wait for her to ask, and it would probably be okay after age 6 or 7.

I was getting my hair done at the salon a couple of weeks ago and there was an infant there having her ears pierced. Poor baby cried and cried. She was so scared. I don't know if I could do that to my baby.

My husband and I disagreed about this. He wanted her to wait till she got old enough, like around when she got her period, so it could be a right of passage, kind of thing. I on the other hand has come from a family that gets the ears pierced when they are babies, so doesn't hurt and they not fiddle with them.

We compromised and agreed that she could get them when she came to us and asked for them. To my husbands horror that came on her 5th b-day...that is what she asked Daddy for as her gift. She asked him first and he 'forgot' to say something to me and then after a few days she came and asked me and said she asked daddy and he said 'we'll see'...ha! She got them, she loves them, she takes care of them...it was no big deal.

I got my daughter's done when she was a toddler. I let my granddaughter get hers done when she was in Pre-K.

I think it's entirely a personal decision. I don't let my granddaughter wear any earrings except studs to school. She can't wear earrings during dance class or anything so we just don't have many that are not tiny studs.

I am waiting until my gals actually ask for them, then it can be a reward they earn. My daughters are 8 and 5 and have no interest in them. I got mine at age 6 and it was fine.
I think it really is up to you. So many babies have them, so if you want to do it early, it's not out of the norm. I do know of several people whose baby's earrings fell out and got stuck in the ear canal or they put em up their noses. Of course, your daughter is 8 so that does not seem likely to happen :)

Based on my country's tradition, I would say from birth; at that point you barely notice it and baby girls look beautiful with their little earrings (real gold, not fake in case of allergies).

You'll get a lot of answers...

I had mine done when I was young (4) because I had supposedly asked. I don't recommend it. I couldn't take care of them and wasn't nearly as responsible as I needed to be; we took them out when I was 8 due to repeated infections. The holes never completely closed and I began wearing them again when I was 12 or so. Much better experience.

In our house, my husband and I agree that if our son wants his ear pierced, he must wait until he's 13. This is a permanent body modification, and we try to treat it as such. Sure the holes can sometimes grown back, but we just want him to know that piercing, just like tattoos or any other modification, is not something we take lightly. We would expect to see a certain level of demonstrated responsibility, too. It's his body, his burden of care.

Our daughter just turned one and my husband is already asking when we can do hers. Seriously? I'm not keeping track of those tiny little earrings! We'll hold off for a little while, but he's really excited for her to have them done.

I don't really think there's an "appropriate age", per se. I had mine done at the end of 3rd grade because I got all A's and had been asking to have them done. It must have been a good age b/c that was the "reward" for my two sisters at the end of third grade for their report cards.

I let my daughter get hers done when she was old enough to ask for it and understand what would happen. She was four when she asked. She also wanted to know if it would hurt and I told her that it would hurt a little and offered to show her what it would feel like. She said ok, and I gave her earlobe a short, sharp pinch with my fingernails. She yelped, rubbed her ear, then asked, "Is that all?" I told her it was, and asked if she still wanted to do it. She did, and I took her the same day.
Had she never asked to have it done, I would not have had it done.

My daughter wanted her ears pierced last year at age 9. She fiddled with them and twisted and turned them until she no longer had a hole in her hear, she had more like a slit and we had to take them out. I don't know if she'll be able to get them re-pierced or not.

Having said that though, if your daughter is not a fiddler and can leave them alone, I think she's probably fine to get them pierced. Many of my daughter's friends had their ears pierced before her and they did well.

I'm in the camp of letting the child decide when she wants to get them done, rather than doing them as a baby, simply because it isn't a cultural thing for us and it's her body to make the choice to pierce or not. Although... after the problem of the fiddling, my daughter wanted to know why I didn't get it done when she was a baby!

If you do decide to do it, go someplace where they have a person on each side piercing at the same time, and use Bactine rather than alcohol for the cleaning.
Good luck~

My 5 yr old has been asking for them and I am considering. The only reason I actually hesitate is because she has a tag on the back of one ear and it might get in the way. I actually think she would take care of them. She is actually open to me piercing them myself since she watched me repierce her sister's ears.

Is your daughter ready to take responsibility for caring for newly pierced ears (which mainly consists of keeping her hands off and gently cleaning with spray saline solution)? If she pulls on them or fiddles with them, she could end up stretching the holes into slits, or introducing an infection.

Will she commit to keeping her piercing studs in place for the required time?

Also, keep in mind that for the first month after a piercing, she really shouldn't immerse her ears in water, which means that swimming is out of the question. With summer coming, she may want to consider that.

And finally, would you rather follow what appears to be the norm in her peer group, or the norm of your family culture? (Both are legitimate choices.)

I made my own daughter wait until she was 12, because that's our family culture, and also because she is a fiddler and a bit of a wild child. She needed to grow up enough to understand what she had to do to take care of a piercing and to follow through. I told her that any time after her 12th birthday, we would do it if she wanted to. I also told her she didn't have to do it at all. After 12, it was her choice.

Well, on her 12th birthday she asked me. Two of her friends who also wanted their ears pierced (and who had the requisite signed releases from their parents) joined us. (Her friends, by the way, are 9 and 11. Different girls, different families, different choices.) We went to a professional piercing studio.

When she's old enough to ask you herself that she wants them done.

My rule was "if you are old enough to take of them, you are old enough to get it done." I wanted to make sure my daughter was mature enough to remember to clean the piercing and twist the earrings without a constant reminder. She was 11 and a half when we took her to get her ears pierced. She did very well with keeping them clean and everything.

I had to wait until 12 as well. It was a "right of passage", and I got to start Jr. High feeling a little more grown up than I was in elementary school. I was also old enough to take care of my ears and my earrings. Twelve is a good age.

I got my first ear piercing when I was 9, the second ear piercing when I was 16 and my nose was done when I was 33.
My mom wouldn't let me get my ears pierced until I was 9, and even then she was really uncomfortable. Only reason she relented was my aunt got them done that day while we were all on a big family vacation and she figured I'd take better care of them being able to do it with my aunt.
Dr. Sears recommends waiting until 8. Before that their ear lobes are growing a lot and rapidly and you can end up with the holes being uneven, even if they started out even. You can also run into skin growing over the backs of the earrings and such.
When they are little you are the one that has to care for them, you can't expect your child to do it.
We haven't decided when my daughter can gets hers done yet. She's about to turn 4. She used to not want them done at all. Now she's talking about when she gets them done but doesn't want them done yet.

I couldn't get mine pierced until I was 15! (that was in the 70s though...)

My now almost 17 yr old got hers done when she was 12.

Figure out what works for you then stick to it. It's good for kids to learn that their parent's can't be talked into stuff they're not comfortable with. The teen years bring a lot of times you'll have to say no. Clothing, friends, parties, boys, etc. You have to evaluate, ask questions, figure out what their motivation is = and once a decision is made between you and your husband you stick to it and they learn that yes is yes, and no is no.

Good luck mama - and strap yourself in - the social pressure comes much earlier now than it did when we were kids..

16. I went with my mom when I was 16 - I got mine pierced and she got hers done at the same time. We went together for a third hole a few years later. Actually I think 13 or 14 and up is fine. I think it looks really cheap (yeah, I know intellectually it's not and the kid didn't decide) when a baby girl or toddler has earrings.