This is great thank you.  I was given the choice years ago to get mine done, but with three brothers I wanted more imaginative gifts than earrings each birthday and christmas; especially as I rarely wore any jewellery.  Last year for the first time my Nana sent me earrings for Christmas.  I am thinking I will find time to get them done next week - (YAY) - but I did find this useful for me too.
Peace
EF.x 

I was made to wait till I was 10, my mother-in-law made her daughters wait till they were 13 and insisted that the granddaughters did also, unfortunately being the naughty girl that I am I chose 5, starting of school and like one of the other advisers noticed a real air of maturity with my daughter after getting it done. My youngest not wanting to be left out wanted hers done as well but as I always had to wait and my little sister didnt (and I hated that) I insisted that she wait till she was 5, she got one done then wanted to leave, no tears or anything just wanted to go but I said thats the worst you are fine and so she sat and got the other one done, now they have two assistants do it at the same time which I think is much better. My m-i-l said they had nothing to look forward to but when they became young women, I too them to the jewellers and bought them a special piece of jewellery which they still have to commorate their passing into womanhood because I felt that was an important thing to do, but I digress around 16 they had additional ear earrings done, the ones at the side and top of ears appear to be the most painful and most easily infected but we managed very well with swabs, tea tree antiseptic done, followed by bellies, the boys came onboard with ears and eyebrows, later tongues and for three of them tats....not everyones cup of tea but I had bought them up to be independant indiciduals and respected their decisions after giving them the cautious this is for life speech....I enjoyed the read the simple decision over earrings was something I had forgotten and have fond memories of special days out with my girls as they turned 5 but as with everything when the time is right for you its right!

Had my ears pierced - after begging my mum for ages - at the age of 10.  As soon as I could, I started changing earrings nearly everyday but I didn't really look after them properly and they got infected and I ended up letting them close up.  I had them redone at 16 and this time I didn't change the initial studs for months.  Now I can change them whenever I want and haven't had any problems. 

I think I'm going to let my girls choose for themselves, but I'm going to encourage them not to change their earrings too much and too early cause I think that's what caused my early problems.

My daughter had hers done at 2 years of age. She held her breath, then screamed the place down. And the child after her screamed worst, though she was about 6months old. After a minute or two my daughter was fine (i was in tears abit). She never had problems with her earring, but she can only wear gold cos she gets a rash otherwise. Now at 3 1/2 she has pretty little hearts, butterflies and huggies earrings.
Its all about personal choice, and being strong enough to watch. 

hiya

my daughter had her ears pierced when she was 8 (same age i had mine done as a kid)...
unfortunately, the ears got infected almost immediately, despite accurate care, and resulted in a trip to the doctor, who had to remove them as they had disappeared completely into the infected ear lobe.

she's 10 now, and isn't itching for it to be redone, yet. i think however, if & when we do get them done again, it won't be done by the girl at the chemist or the hair salon - but properly done by someone correctly trained. i know my DD's experience is not common of everyone, but eek the morning after she'd had it done, and woke screaming with the earrings having disappeared inside - i don't want to see that again!

cheers!

Great read, I like that you presented it from both sides - something that you don't often see since this tends to be an issue right up there on the passionate-opinion scale.

Cleanliness should definately be a top priority regardless of the age at which the piercing is done. I got my second holes done as an adult and I took no less care of those than I did of my daughters' who both had them done as infants.

My older daughter, now 5, loves that all the girls in her class just fawn over her earrings, lol. Many of them are just getting them pierced and ofcourse what girl doesn't like to be a trend setter.