When Ainsley was a baby I participated in what felt like an Ancient Tribal Ritual – I held her tightly swaddled body down while she shrieked with fear, pain and anger – so the doctor could pierce her ears.
One ear down, I thought, “Dear God, what am I doing?”
When Ainsley was around 3 years old, she found the pierced ears annoying. They always had to be taken care of. If you didn’t pay attention, the skin would try to grow over the earring in the back. We once had to get one ear re-pierced. She demanded I take them out, said she didn’t want pierced ears anymore. I obliged.
Of course when she was 6 she started asking that her ears be pierced again. Or maybe 7. Definitely 8. I would tell her she had to prove that she could take care of a piercing by being responsible for her body.
For her 9th Birthday she got her ears pierced again. She cried after the first ear. But, they gave her a sucker and she had solid gold daisy earrings so it was considered all worth it.
3 comments ↓
I gotta decide if I’m going to pierce my baby girl’s ears once she gets here. You make an excellent point about how they need to be taken care of (read here, baby’s ears are a pain in the butt for reasons not involving ear infections). But I might do it anyway if she’s very bald and everyone calls her a boy all the time.
l wouldn’t do it again.
A baby’s skin grows very very fast – and can grow over the earring in the back in only a couple of days or a week. Then it’s painful and irritated. Also they can close up in a matter of days or a week for the same reason. It really was a pain the in the ass.
Also, it should be noted that I had to have one side re-pierced when she was around 2 or 3 when it grew back together and because of the scar tissue inside the ear they couldn’t pierce it in the same place this time. Which means there is a piercing and also scars above the piercing. Which isn’t ideal. One of the scars, after all these years, still seemed irritated and not completely healed.
Adding to that – as a baby and a toddler this was a nuisance to her done for ME – because I thought it was adorable.
At 9 she did it because SHE wanted to and because it made HER feel adorable. There was a lot of anticipation and excitement around the event that wasn’t there when she was a baby. It made me a Mommy Hero in her eyes to let her do it, and give her this beautiful gift for her birthday. Which was a much nicer experience.
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