I remember being around 7 years old and thinking what a big deal getting your ears pierced was, and how much I loved receiving different kinds of earrings for my birthday and Christmas every year after!

We had our daughter’s done when she was 4 years old.  We made a special day of it, went shopping on a “girls day out” with my Mom, sister-in-law, niece, and my daughter.  She picked out the style that she wanted and hopped up in the chair.  I explained beforehand what would happen, but didn’t want to frighten her.  I also called ahead and made sure they would have 2 people there so she could get both ears pierced at the same time.  It was done and over quickly with only a few tears.

They healed quickly, and we cleaned them out and twisted them regularly.  I waited for a year to change out her “starter” earrings.    For a while it went really well, and when she was 6 years old, she somehow pulled the front (head) of the earring inside of her earlobe from the back.. *CRINGE*  I KNOW!!!  After a visit to Urgent Care (who sent us on to the local Pediatric ER!), we were fortunate  that the earring was removed without surgery.  After that episode, we took the earrings out for a while to let them heal properly.

Picture of the earring the hospital removed from her earlobe.  (Go ahead and click on it to get a feel of it’s size)

After a few months of healing, she wanted to try to wear them again, so I got out her starter set, cleaned them really well, and put them in.  We treated them like they were first pierced by cleaning and twisting them regularly.  After a couple weeks, I noticed that the one that had the earring stuck in it started to look red and swollen so I took them out again, and we haven’t put them back in since.

Every now and then she asks to try again, especially when she dresses up for events, but I’m not sure if that earlobe will be the same again.  One piece of (obvious) advice from my experience is to avoid small stud earrings at all costs!!   I didn’t look at this particular pair and think they were small in comparison to others out there, but I will definitely err on the side of caution in the future!  Until then, I may try an alternative to piercing like bINK’d Pierce-Free Earrings!  Check out this special through the end of April over at Hip2Save!

I know that she is only 7 and we will probably surely  face piercing struggles as she grows, but I’m just hopeful that she doesn’t go for this record in the Guiness Book of World Records:

English: Front shot of Elaine Davidson, the most pierced woman in the world, according the Guiness Book of World Records. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)