My daughter, Aubree, laid into me hard today about getting her ears pierced. Aubree, her mother and I had a fairly long conversation about it this afternoon. Which ended with me having to consider it; not think about it but, honestly consider it.
All decisions I make require some data. I posed a question on Twitter and Facebook asking, “Ladies: How old were you when you got your ears pierced?” I also sent a text message to ten personal friends asking the same question (the responses to which immediately crashed my phone). After my phone got some rest I made a few phone calls to ensure a wide swath of demographics were covered.
I collected all of this data into a Google Docs spreadsheet which I have made available to everyone.
The average age of the forty-three respondents is 8.74418604651163 years old. Typically, the earlier the ears were pierced the more piercings the respondents had. Those who had their ears pierced above (older) than the average only had their ears pierced. 100% of those who responded with an answer below (younger) than the average had more than their ears pierced (once), had more parts of their anatomy pierced, and/or had to have their ears re-pierced.
Fairly interesting research being done with a cell phone and computer by one person in a matter of five hours. But, just because Aubree is barely old enough (according to the average) does not mean she is mature enough. I am still left with one underlying question: Are you doing this for you or because your friends have their ears pierced? According to Aubree and her mother, every girl in her class has their ears pierced. This just lends more credibility to the age answer and not necessarily the maturity answer. However, as forgetful as Aubree is at times, no one (that knew her) suggested that she wasn’t ready for them.
The question isn’t a matter of if, but, when. I’m thinking I should take her to get her ears pierced on June 12th or 13th. That way, she’s out of school (something new for third grade), the germ/clean freak (me) gets the first three to four days or so to get her in a rhythm of extreme cleanliness, and then when the studs have to come out, finally, she is with her mom who is much more compassionate about those in extreme pain (did I mention Aubree has zero tolerance for pain). Oh… The life of a father.