Fashionable Pain

Out of all my children, Child #3 is the most patient. Though she has moments of impatience, she is by far the winner in our family. She has been inquiring about getting her ears pierced for over a year. My response last year was "You'll have to wait for your birthday." Well, her birthday was in April. I didn't exactly fulfill the promise. Every time she would remind me, I had an excuse.

"You can't get your ears pierced during the soccer season." (Rule: no jewelry while playing)

The Spring soccer season came and went. Then Summer appeared.

"You're going to be too active and you won't be able to keep them cleaned properly."

Then the Fall soccer season caught us.

"You'll have to wait until after the soccer season again."

I know my excuses are completely unfair, but it comes down to our lives are busy and a little bit of laziness on my part. There is a lot of maintenance when you get your ears pierced. I don't want to have to remind her twice a day for six weeks to clean and twist the earrings. There are already twenty other things I have to constantly repeat throughout the day. It's exhausting.

Since soccer season has ended, I don't have anymore excuses so I finally fulfilled her birthday present. Considering Child #3 has been driving this crusade, Child #1 and Child #2 are going along for the ride (they never expressed an interest in getting their ears pierced before). So off to the mall we go. 

All three excitedly pick out the earrings they wanted. Love how the ear piercing is free, but the earrings are approximately fifty dollars each.

Child #3 wants to go first. She hops into the chair. The technician does all the necessary things. Child #3 doesn't even want her to count. She just wants her to punch the hole. The sound of one quick punch silences our posse waiting for Child #3's reaction. As her mother, I can tell it wasn't pain free for her, but she held a straight face and was ready for the other ear. She says they feel warm, but it didn't hurt.

Child #2 hops up on the chair. The technician gets her situated and punches the first hole. All the color drained from her face and her mouth contorted into a painful ow. Child #2 braved through the second hole punch, but wasn't exactly happy about it. She hops off the chair and is happy she got her ears pierced once the temporary pain has gone away.

As we all turn to Child #1, she is shaking her head no and slowly stepping away from the area. The protesting begins. Shoot, I should've made her go first. She has made up her mind that she does not want her ears pierce anymore and refuses to get on the chair.

We all try to sweet talk into it, but nothing we say is working. Then I try to guilt her into it (no refunds). That doesn't work. Then her Aunt tries to bribe her. Nope. Nothing. We're at a stand still. Fortunately, there was a twenty-one year old girl waiting for her turn. We let her go in front of Child #1. Though this girl was getting four holes, she had just the right personality to entertain Child #1 enough to make her relax. The girl was extremely funny. After the girl got her first two earrings in, she wanted a break. Child #1 lightened up and sat in the chair.

Child #1 wanted me to hold her hand so I stood next to her while the technician prepped her. Once everything was in place, Child #1 wanted the technician to count to three. We all held our breath while the hole was punched. Child #1 instantly turned to me with a scrunched brow and says, "That's it. That didn't hurt." Our posse all busted out laughing. So the technician quickly punched the other hole and we were done. Child #1is tougher than she realizes. Then we stayed to watch the girl get her other two earrings in. We were all entertained.

So now we wait six weeks. The true test will be if they can keep up with the cleaning maintenance. The goal is not to get any infected ears. I'll keep you posted. 

I have to say it was all worth it to see their big happy smiles when it was all done.