got my ears pierced when I was 9, obviously with my mom's agreement.
got my nose pierced when I was 15, without my mom's agreement (Illegal in Switzerland, you need the signature of a parent before 18).
got a lot of other things pierced after 20.
My body never could cope with any of them, infections the whole time. Finally decided my body could do without, only sticking to my ear piercings.
Got a tattoo when I was 19, never regretted it.
I think for that you need to be at least 18, because before that, you don't really understand what "the rest of your life" means.
In Ireland generally we get our ears pierced for our first holy communion . . Its expected really. So usually 6/7 years old.
On my 12th birthday my Mam asked me if i would like my ears peirced again .. its wasnt the norm to have 2 holes in your ears and i jumped at the chance!
After that i got my nose pierced (13/14 years old..)
I now have 5 holes in one ear, 3 in the other, my lip pieced, nose, nipple, tongue, belly . . . 3 tattoos.
I am now 25, I dont wear any of the piercings anymore except nice earings sometimes and only the one pair.
(If i do wear all piercings im probably off to a concert lol)
I am thankful i had my tattoos put in discreet places but in saying that i wouldnt change my tattoos for the world!!
So eh.... back on topic... i think 6/7years is old enough...
Eh.. wait... was that the question????
I got my eyebrow pierced on my 21th birthday. Didn't feel like an adult, didn't understand what the 'rest of my life' meant. Just did it out of boredom (shows my lack of maturity). Got my second piecing a half year later on Hallowe'en, again just for boredom sake. Still have them both a decade later, unchanged.
In zurich they do it in Zett Meyer on staufacher, they do both ears together so it is less traumatic for the child.They do kids from about age 5 or 6 but they did make an exception and they did my daughters ears when she was 2, but only because she herself was desp for earings, she was a real tom boy at the time but she was just desperate for earings like her elder sister every time we went shopping she would ask "please buy me holes" so eventually my husband took her and they agreed to do it.
Why would you do something to a child which is traumatic for it?
A child doesnt know it its "Traumatic" All a child knows is "I WANT IT"
And i know now days your supposed to go to a qualified piercer and they do it with needles and not a gun. It doesnt hurt as much, theres no loud frightening BANG, its a much more pleasent experience.
I remember gettting my ears pierced (they used a gun) - the BANG frightened the crap out of me and it was extremly painful.
If they pierced one ear and told me to come back in a week for the second i think i would have cried all week. . . even though ive so many piercings now lol
Obviously one doesnt want to do any thing traumatic to their child, but even when a child absolutely wants their ears pierced like my daughter did the actual piercing can be a bit of a shock, there for by doing both ears together the "trauma" is over in one go. I know of plenty of kids who walked around with one earing because although they may have desperately wanted their ears pierced the shock and pain of having it done put them of having the 2nd ear pierced.
In theory the 'age of consent' is 18 in the UK and Swizerland for body-piercings or tattoos of any kind.
Having said that, years ago eldest son (16 at the time) managed to get his eyebrow pierced in Camden by persuading his 18-year-old girlfriend to sign the consent form. Even thought they both knew how angry I'd be.
So, mothers can agree and sign for their children to have their ears done, although personally I think they shouldn't do such a thing until the child is in their teens.
My youngest daughter's ears were pierced soon after her 1st birthday at Claire's in UK.
There was a chair by the window where they do the piercing, both ears at the same time. A random group of girls were stood outside waving to her and she loved the attention.
There was no fuss, and she didn't even notice it happen. For weeks after, we worried she would catch them on something, or pull them out. But, she never touches them and 3 years later, she still wears the same ones.
And, if she decides she doesn't want them when she's older, it's not a problem.
Our older girl, who is nine is determined never to have her ears pierced.
Funny enough, we thought one year old was young for an ear piercing, but when we came here, we made friends with a family from El Salvador, whose daughter's ears were pierced not long after she was born.
I've heard of this before but I still don't understand the connection between the holy communion and ear piercing. What was the origin of it does anyone know?
I remember my mum being horrified at my sister and myself asking for our ears to be pierced. Her line was "I made you perfect, why would you want to disfigure yourself in this way and have large chunks of metal on your face."
She didn't take it too well to my pointing out that if she'd made me perfect why did I have -8 short sight and have to wear glasses that looked like the ends of a bottle. Eventually we were allowed to get earrings, once we were 13, and had worn clip ons for a few days.
If either of my kids wanted to have ears or anything else pierced, I would ask them to wait until at least teenage years, show that they understood the hygiene implications (so are at least keeping themselves clean in the appropriate and for that matter other areas) and then wait 6 months and if they are still keen I will support them. Tattoos are different matter but I would discuss it with them and ask that they give themselves a cooling off period before doing it. After tattoos done in haste can lead to regrets, just look at Dave Gorman (4mins)
I trust the symbolism being the pain of telling our sins leads to the beauty of our souls for God: it hurts initially to get your ears pierced, but then you can wear beautiful earrings and especially to wear them for your First Holy Communion.