NO! It's too soon! Rewind! NOT "fair"!

[keista]

DD1 got her period. She's......only......10. Where oh where did my baby go? She's dealing with this so much better than I am. I'm barely Of course all she's thinking is that she gets to get her ears pierced now, and I'm thinking OMW she gets to get her ears pierced!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (it's a deal we made).

I do see the silver lining in the fact that she is only 10. She still has 2 years left in elementary where she is more closely supervised and the threat of drugs and sex are very minimal and I get to "make sure" her hormones don't cause us more issues in this more safeguarded environment. But still. My baby is becoming a woman. And as much as I knew this would happen sooner rather than later, as much as I was preparing both of us for this, I feel as if I've been blindsided.

 

[DaisyFace]

Wow! 10 is young....

My daughter had just turned 12 - and I remember thinking THAT was early!

I'm glad she is excited and that you had talked about it before it happened.

 

[InsaneCdn]

And of course... this is the normal stuff... including: hormones!

 

[DDD]

Hugs to you guys. My daughters were late bloomers thank heavens. on the other hand, GFGmom told me last month that her 9 year old BiPolar (BP), adhd daughter has begun changing and now uses deoderant. Watch out world! Yikes. DDD

 

[AnnieO]

O got hers 1 month before her 12th birthday... bio had been swearing she would get it at age 8 or 9, so O thought she was a late bloomer. I managed to soften that by telling her mine was 4 months AFTER my 12th birthday, and clearly I was perfectly healthy.

Anymore, ages 10-14 is "normal" - and it's earlier and earlier. I'm sure some of it has to do with medication, pollution, chemicals... And some, just the individual...

 

[keista]

Yeah, she is certainly on the early end, but she is a full 10.5, and about half her class is developing already and half of them have already gotten their period or about to start. How do we know? About 25% of the girls carry their purses with them ALL the time.

I just suddenly feel like I've missed out on something, but I'm not sure what.

So, how do I go about finding a decent place to get her ears pierced without breaking the bank?

 

[InsaneCdn]

So, how do I go about finding a decent place to get her ears pierced without breaking the bank?

Ermmm.... She's getting this because she is "more responsible"... so...

Let HER do the research. She has to figure out who charges what, and what kind of a reputation each option has... and make the case to YOU as to where it gets done...

 

[Hound dog]

My sister got hers at age 8, talk about being blind sided. lol

My girls.......12-13. I was about 12 and none too happy about it. I demanded to be allowed to turn male. My mom still laughs about that.

 

[TerryJ2]

As you said, the good news is that you can keep an eye on her better when she's younger. And the ear piercing thing isn't that bad ... just be thankful you didn't promise her a car!
Also, you'll probably have to tell her that just because her body is maturing earlier doesn't mean that the whole world changes. Puberty and adolescence are stages and they happen little by little. She still has to prove her worth and earn things, regardless of how grown up her body is!
You may want to have her promise you that once she gets her ears pierced, she will not run out and buy new earrings every week. Especially since it will take several wks for the piercings to heal.

 

[keista]

Insane, I'm gonna do the research myself. I made it clear that I will not allow piercings other than ear lobes while and child of mine is under my roof. And since the right to put holes in their bodies is under my control, I will do the researching and deciding. I don't need to give them any practice in this realm in case they get any "funky ideas" a few years down the road.

Terry, that was really funny! to run out and buy earrings every week, she has to have money. If she doesn't do the basic chore of keeping her room "tidy" (I'm not even going for clean here) she doesn't earn allowance and therefore has no money to buy earrings. But WoooooHooooo! That may just be the incentive she needs to clean up her room!

 

[Wiped Out]

I remember when easy child/difficult child's dr. told us we should talk to her about her period when she was 8 years old!!! It seemed so young! She ended up getting hers at 11.

 

[gcvmom]

I feel for you! My easy child got hers a year ago August, and she was just 11 and 2 mos. I was not happy and had hoped it wouldn't hit for at least a few more years. After accepting it, I hoped it would be irregular for a while -- you know, skip a few months here and there. No such luck. She's as regular as clockwork.

 

[Chaosuncontained]

I have a ten year old who will turn 11 in November. She already is developing in the chest area. She can NOT wait until she gets her period (WTH?). She has researched it online, symptoms and all. Her sister was 13. I was 14. I have 2 step daughters. One will be 14 in December and one will be 12 in November--neither one has started their period. And the oldest hasn't developed at all in the boobie region LOL.


I hear all the time how girls are maturing faster in this day and age than they did in MY day...but geez louise! I have already talked to my 10 year old about what to do when she starts--no problem having that talk. But having the puberty talk to my boys will be brutal for me. Eeekkk!

 

[Mamaof5]

My sister and I were 11 yrs old. I am dreading my almost 10 yr old getting hers. If she's anything like mum, she's going to get it around the same age... Yeesh. One of my girlfriends from another board last year was shocked that her 9 yr old ended up with hers...*bug eyes*

 

[InsaneCdn]

But having the puberty talk to my boys will be brutal for me. Eeekkk!

Whole different subject, of course... but that's what husband is for... no?

 

[AnnieO]

Lol!!! I get the hard questions... From J.

 

[donna723]

My daughter had her first period not long after her tenth birthday too. I thought that was really young but they mature earlier now than they did just a few generations ago. Good grief! We were still playing on the monkey bars when we were ten! And the same day that she started her first period, she demanded to know everything there was to know about sex, now that she was a "woman"! Thankfully though, she didn't feel the need to try out her newfound knowlege for several years after that.

I let her get her ears pierced when she was seven because she had already been begging for it for two years! One of the nicer department stores in town had run an ad about ear piercing in their jewelry dept. so I took her there. You bought the little gold stud earrings and then they had a nurse there who did the piercing. They had this little thing that shot the post of the earring through the ear lobe, then they put the back on it and gave instructions on how to care for it while it healed. Her ears healed up just fine and she never had any problems with them.

 

[Liahona]

I'm already dreading this and I still have years to go. Sympathy to you Keista.

 

[confuzzled]

call your pediatrician's office and ask if they do ear piercing--very often they actually do. not sure if you have to provide your own earrings or not (i would assume you DO) so find out specifically what their procedure so you buy the right stuff.

 

[DaisyFace]

And the oldest hasn't developed at all in the boobie region LOL.

Of course, some of us are STILL waiting to develop in the "boobie region"....LOL!


FWIW - I think a gift of pierced ears to mark the occassion is wonderful. If you have to get the "bad" parts of growing up....you might as well get something "fun", too. Any jewelry store should sell sterilized studs. As long as they shoot sterilized studs into a clean ear lobe....there should be very little rsik of complication. Good luck!