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Thursday, September 20, 2007
When to pierce ears, other body parts?
What is the right age to let daughters or sons pierce ears? How about other body parts?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What is an appropriate age to let your daughter, or son, get her, or his, ears pierced? How about other body parts? Are ears a gateway piercing? Do they lead to other body parts being pierced?
With my husband’s family being Filipino and Italian I was under a lot of pressure to pierce my first daughter’s ears when she was an itty, bitty baby. I told them there was no way I was punching holes in my tiny baby. But lots and lots of cultures do.
I told them she could choose when and if she wanted to have her ears pierced when she was older. At 6 she has brought it up once. I’m waiting for an avalanche of begging before even beginning to consider it. It’s painful and a responsibility to keep the new holes clean. It can also be dangerous if little girls play in too big of earrings and they get ripped out.
I think I was in the first or second grade when I asked to pierce mine. I was ready to tell them to stop after they shot the first hole with that gun. My brother secretly did his as a teenager in the ’80s when it was very in for boys to get pierced. Neither of us ever did any other body parts. (At least I don’t think he did.)
When do kids get to choose to get ears pierced? Are they allowed to choose other piercings as well? What’s the difference? Is it taboo for boys to get pierced now or acceptable?
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