...We were like, she can decide to have her ears' pierced when she's older so this unnecessary pain makes zero sense:
6-year-old’s ear-piercing experience at American Girl store becomes powerful lesson in consent: ‘You can say no at any time’
According to Corban, her family planned a trip to Chicago, where her then-6-year-old daughter was super excited about one thing and one thing only: Getting her ears pierced.
“And not just get her ears pierced,” Corban clarified. “She wanted to get her ears pierced at the American Girl doll store.”
“I always wanted to make sure that any kind of ear piercing was always her choice,” the mother explained. But considering this was all her daughter could talk about for months, she was confident that the 6-year-old definitely wanted this.
Once they got there, her daughter was overwhelmed with excitement. As she skipped happily through the store with her American Girl doll under one arm, the family went to the ear-piercing station.
But after picking out the earrings she wanted, Corban’s usually bubbly 6-year-old suddenly went quiet.
“You just sort of see her start to stare off and check out,” Corban said, which caused her to lean over and ask her daughter if everything was OK.
“I’m just really nervous,” the 6-year-old replied. Her mom reassured her that it was OK to be nervous and to ask any questions she had that might settle her fears.
“I don’t know,” her daughter admitted. “I don’t know if I want to do it now.”
Corban could have told her daughter that she would feel better when the piercing was over or reminded her that they’d come all this way for something she’d specifically asked for.
But instead, she leaned over and said, “Honey, you can say no at any time.”
Topic: This issue never crossed our minds when we had our daughter (Read 190 times)