|
This site gets better with user participation. Please participate... Some of the main things you can do is rate this advice, add comments to this advice, add links to and from this advice, and/or write your own advice.
ADVICE RATING |
 4.75 (Highly recommend) from 24 votes (3343 Visits) |
|
|
The Earring; if, when and who. |
 |
by Chrysalis  (November 2006) (rank 50th) |
|
Earrings are a fascinating subject - everyone has an opinion and a story to tell.
My mum never had earrings when I was a child and she has the most beautiful delicate ears. I badly wanted mine done but she was reluctant - presumably because she didn't have them done herself. Mind you her sister had had hers done when she was young- and Mum was given the opportunity ; she just chose not to. She eventually did get hers done when she turned 40 and loves wearing beautiful expensive pieces now.
I think I was 10 when two of my friends decided to take matters into their own hands and pierce each others ears with a needle which had been sterilized with a flame (holding an icecube behind the lobe. It ended with them both in tears and the needle half stuck in one of their ear lobes! At around that time I had mine done at the chemist *smile*. I was shocked that it hurt ;-) and they often got infected as soon as I tried to change the sleepers for 'fancy' earrings.
If and When
My daughter wanted hers done when she was about 6 i think - I really dont remember. My DH had a small business doing body piercing at the time so he just did them for her when she asked (he had a wide range of rings and studs so she just chose what she wanted and as we had good quality earrings and cleaning fluids etc she never had any problems at all. Our DS wanted one of his done when he was 3 i think- or 4 and so DH did that too. Never been a problem with it - he was the only boy in kinder and prep to have it done but now there are a couple of boys in his class with one, and a couple of younger ones too. Our other DS is now 6 and has no interest in getting an earring - so far.
I dont think its any big deal as far as our own children are concerned- its individual choice so if the kids want it done they can have it, we instruct them on proper care and cleaning and carefully supervised this when they first get the piercings.
Ive seen plently of small children and babies with earrings- although I wouldn't get it done for them personally (our choice is to let the children choose when and if they want the piercing.) - it rarely seems to cause much of a problem. Often it is a traditional and cultural choice as well and it can look gorgeous.
If you do decide to get earrings for a child under 2 please be very careful with sterilization of both the equipment and the earrings and ensure their ears are kept very clean while the hole heals. We used Betadine on our kids as that is what DH used for his piercing business. It is an excellent disinfectant and I still use it now if we change earrings or the kids have removed the rings for karate etc. (i swab their ears and dip the rings before putting them back in- just to be sure) But dettol or alcohol swabs etc are terrific too. Its better to be cautious than to have to deal with infection.
Health and Hygiene
Any sign of redness - make sure you clean around the earring front and back and continue twice a day until its all calmed down- id do it for a week. Dont wait until its red swollen, hot and badly infected. Many years ago my DH made that mistake - his ear was an oozing mess, the skin was red and flaking all around his ear and it was very sore (funnily enough). It took weeks to heal properly.
Earrings are lovely and make terrific presents, they can look great on both boys and girls. Whether you decide to wait and let the child choose - or have the piercings done early - take care of the health/hygiene and safety aspects and teach children how to care for them. Stress to the children to let you know if they are sore and check them regularly just as you would check for headlice or clean their teeth and ears.
Enjoy! 
|
|
|
Any contributed content above is the subjective opinion of that member or external author, and not of Minti.com Pty Ltd. If you are searching for health related advice we strongly suggest you seek professional medical support. View our Terms of Service for more details.
|
|
|
|
Related Content:
|
Bookmarks:
|
|
 |
| ADVICE RATING |
4.75 (Highly recommend) from 24 votes |
|
 Report |
|
Thankyou for your vote (you can change your vote at any time). Please leave some helpful comments about this advice using the box below.
|
 |
|
 | |
|
|
Piercings
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!
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
|
earrings
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!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related keywords: betadine, calmed, cautious, cleaning, dettol, dh, dip, disinfectant, dont, ds, ear, earring, earrings, ears, fascinating, flaking, fluids, funnily, gorgeous, headlice, heals, hers, hygiene, icecube, infected, instruct, ive, kinder, lobe, lobes, lovely, mess, mum, needle, oozing, piercing, piercings, plently, prep, redness, sleepers, sore, sterilization, sterilized, studs, supervised, swab, swabs, swollen, terrific
|
|
