by Kelly Wilbanks posted in Parenting

It was the day before her first day of kindergarten and we were back-to-school shopping, when, out of the blue, my daughter said "I want to get my ears pierced too."
I've always considered ear piercing a rite of passage. I remember getting my ears pierced when I was 8 and I've always wanted to preserve that choice for them too. I certainly don't condemn mothers who choose to avoid the hygienic issues that go hand-in-hand with ear-piercing older children, but that wasn't me.

So, here we were. I told her exactly what the process was like and that it would hurt like getting a shot. I told her she'd need to keep her ears clean and let me clean them when I found it necessary. She solemnly agreed to my terms. Then I set about finding a place where we could get this done safely. My personal experience with a certain ear piercing store in the mall led me in the direction of a tattoo/piercing parlor. I'd read a little about the differences between using an ear piercing gun versus a needle and decided I wanted Vivianne to have a needle.
There's a debate about ear piercing guns versus needles. I've had fellow mamas tell me they had wonderful experiences at mall store locations and I've had fellow mamas who would never go back. I have two uneven holes in my ears that convinced me to try something different for my daughter.
At the parlor, we were introduced to Hope V., the piercing artist. She was sterilizing her instruments. I hel...