Ear piercing ..... what age?

This caused a serious falling out with MIL. I refused to let my daughter have her ears done until she was at least in her teens. She came back from a holiday with her Nan with it done, she was 10. And they went septic. I still can't believe MIL did it knowing I had said no.

It's a type of child abuse! I wasn't allowed to have mine done as a child. They were done for my 21st birthday. I let darling daughter have hers done at 18

I forbad my daughter piercing, dyeing or tattooing anything until she was an adult. She has now pierced her ears and has some lovely, tasteful earrings. She has never complained about my high handed decree and I think she'll secretly do the same if she has children.

Hate to see children with pierced ears! As grans have already said here, it looks tacky and can be dangerous. My DD had hers pierced at 18. Now they have healed up, as she never wore earrings. DGD is 13 and has no interest in pierced ears.

Agree - totally horrid on babies and toddlers. I was up against it with my DD when she was young as her stepfather was Indian and therefore a different culture - his daughter was 'done' when she was very young. So I had a battle on my hands.

My stance was that she wasn't going to have any tacky earrings - they had to be 24 carat gold and no girl was old enough to wear solid gold until she was 16. I managed to hold out until she was nearly 14 - but it was tough going!

Lona, he's a big baby. ;)

I had mine pierced when I was 16 as did my daughter but I understand that in some cultures ears are pierced very young to improve and protect the child's eyesight!

imagran I hope your "cutie grandson" is an adult not a baby!

I think I was an adult when I got mine done, but in Spain it's common to have it done while the child is still an infant.

Quite handy, as you always know when the infant is a girl!

My mum's rule was 18, she reckoned that as soon as I was allowed to vote on matters concerning the entire country I was allowed to decide things for myself!
She didn't have hers done until she was 50, after I'd had mine pierced!

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

i was 18 when i had my ears pierced for the first time. i loved them right from the start. now i've got 3 earrings in each ear and never have any problems.
my daughter had her ears pierced when she was at uni and my eldest grandaughter had her's done for her 13th birthday present.
grandaughter's school doesn't require them to remove the earrings, she covers them with medical tape when she's got pe/games .
i think my second grandaughter will be impatient to have her's done but she'll have to wait, like her sister, until she's 13.
but i still hate seeing babies and toddlers with pierced ears.

Why is it that Katie Price does such stupid things, then gets narky when she is told about it? Personally I think it is for attention,, She makes her eight year old look like she is sixteen, and now, has the babies ears pierced!! The woman is a menace!

i was thirteen when I had mine done, my daughter was nine, I think it's wrong for babies to have it done, We all know how painful it can be, if you accidentally catch an earring, so that poor baby is going to be in so much pain, if it catches it,,
It is cruel, I let my daughter have hers done, after a lot of thought,

Only skimmed through all the posts, so hope I'm being repetitive. A friend told me years ago that ear piercing was practised on babies, to "improve their sight". It was some sort of old belief. Why not the boys as well, then?

My mother thought ear-piercing "common".

A dear aunt had her ears pierced when she was a student nurse, circa the late twenties. The man who did it said the procedure was only possible if the girls sat on his lap!

I was 50 when I had mine done; an impulse after taking elder daughter (16) to have hers done!

I was always against ear piercing and my dd was 18 when she had hers done - so then I thought I'd have mine done - I was 40. I never regretted it though I often forget to wear any ..... So I've just reminded myself to put some in today! .....

I was in my teens, my DD was at primary and my DD wanted my DS to get one ear done which she persuaded him to do it around age 9. He has regretted it and never wears anything in it.

I do think they should be old enough to chose themselves. (My DS did agree to his being done at the time, he wasn't forced, just cajoled.)

My mum was very against ear piercing - at whatever age.

Personally, I wouldn't have a baby's or young child's ears pierced but I don't feel that strongly about it.

I had my ears pierced at around 36, soon after I returned to the UK after a holiday with my husband's family. The day before we were due to come back, his aunt bought me some expensive earrings, taking it for granted that I would have pierced ears. I'm so glad she did as I would probably never have bothered, and I like wearing earrings. I didn't bother with clip on ones as most of them were not that attractive and also very uncomfortable.

When we moved house in about 1980 I was astonished to see the neighbour's 18 month old daughter with large studs in her ears.
Needless to say, DD (then 6) nagged me to let her have her ears pierced. I relented when she was 14.

I didn't have mine done until I was 24 when I went with a couple of friends to a jeweller's - we said we'd go together to give each other courage. I had mine done first and one of the girls was away up the street but the third girl fetched her back and made her go through with it.

I wasn't allowed to have mine done until I was 16 because my Dad thought it was common, or dead ory as they say in Dundee. I think most parents hold out until secondary school now, getting them done in the holidays before they start.

I had mine done at 19 in the back room of a jeweller's shop. I love pierced ears but I've developed an allergy to all metals so can't wear them now.

Cooo, lucky you annodomini. I buckled because there didn't seem to be any fashionable clip-ons available in the late 80s / early 90s, but oh my goodness - the brutality of the hairdresser's staple gun lived vividly in my memory for a long time

I was 28 and wanted to wear nice earrings for my sister's wedding at which I was to be a bridesmaid. A junior doctor, she did it for me with a hypodermic. It didn't hurt at all.

I had mine done when I was 19 and my Mum didn't talk to me for 48 hours!!