When I told my thirteen-year-old daughter, Mia, she had to wait until sixteen for a second piercing, she pierced her own ear with a sewing needle. I found her asleep with her ear swollen and infected and took her to urgent care the next day. She admitted she’d done it because “everyone else” had one and she wanted to feel grown-up.
To show her the safe way, I brought her to a professional piercing studio. She became fascinated—so much that she later volunteered there, helping with cleaning and organizing and learning about proper sterilization. She even designed a pair of earrings for me.
After months of responsibility, I let her get her second piercing at fifteen, professionally and safely. She now tells other kids to wait and never do it themselves. I still keep the sewing needle as a reminder of how far we both grew.
