The majority of girls in my junior high pierced their ears. Some got their mom or aunt to do it. Others got school friends to do it. All you needed was a piece of ice and a needle, ice pick and rubbing alcohol. The ice numbs the ear, needle starts the hole and the ice pick enlarges it. My aunt was a nurse and did all three of her daughter’s ears.
Yes, maybe one teen out of a 100 got an infection and a trip to the family doctor. Other kids fell out of trees and broke their arms. That’s how life works sometimes. Kids take risks in life. Once in awhile they see their family GP afterward.
Piercing was an even bigger thing in the 80’s generation. Noses, tongues, eyebrows. I took my daughter to get her belly button pierced in the 90’s.
Now, we’re prosecuting kids for this? :dubious: *Ok, I agree doing it at school was stupid. * That’s what pajama parties and sleepovers are for. Fix your hair, pierce you ears, bellybutton, talk boys and giggle. I can still hear that giggling from my daughter’s sleepover friends 12 years ago.
True, back in my day [70s] you got a bunch of girls together in a slumber party and pierced ears then. oddly similar to the scene in Grease with less drama. Though I got mine done the first time at Spencers in Eastview Mall in Rochester.
I could understand suspending the girl from school for a couple days. It was stupid to pierce her classmates at school. But isn’t that the definition of teenager? They don’t always think before doing something and they get in trouble.
But then thats what parents are for. We’re here to guide and correct them. Try to help them understand why the decision they made was wrong.
Calling the cops over something this trivial is just nuts. You’re stomping an ant with a steamroller.
This girl will have a criminal record for something millions of teens do at slumber parties all the time.
You do know piercings close up after the jewelry is removed? My lip piercing from the 80’s didn’t even leave a lasting scar. (it was a gold stud just below by bottom lip)
A piercing is the most harmless fashion fad out there.
Tattoo’s were my big fear with my daughter in the late 90’s. I was terrified she’d come home with one at 16. Thankfully, I raised a smart kid.
I had my ears pierced when I was 12, so in the 1970s. (No ice for me, just a hard pinch and a needle.) Turned out I had a nickel allergy, so I had to take out the starter posts after a couple of days. The holes are still open. I can wear nickel-free earrings now if I want to.
I agree that involving the cops was goofy, but the idea of kids doing piercings themselves makes me shudder, especially if they’re doing belly buttons or some of the more complicated cartilage or facial piercings. A MRSA infection or even a bad strep infection can be far from “harmless” and lead to scarring or worse, and I’m not sure middle school kids are aware of how to protect against those organisms.
Eh, criminal records of minors are sealed, so its not like it’ll really effect her. And its not like she’s going to do hard time, she’ll get a couple of community service hours and then be done with it.
Honestly I don’t think this is really that new a thing. Why I can’t speak to piercings, I grew up in a relatively small town in the 80’s and I can remember several instances where cops were called out to arrest kids for minor juvenile hijinks. The main purpose was just to scare the kids (and in some cases, their parents), the actual penalties doled out were trivial. I suspect cops and teachers in at least some towns have been doing more or less the same thing since as long as there have been cops and teachers.
To be fair, piercing the navel/ belly button is potentially riskier than piercing the ear lobe, because the skin of the navel is thinner than the normal skin, and if you break it, you can start an infection in your stomach cavity which is rather nasty.
For the record, at least in California (and I’m sure other places), your juvenile record is only sealed after you fill out a request to have it done. Otherwise, it is open and available for search for those that are so inclined.
To me the most likely explanation for buying the supplies on the sly and doing the piercings at school was because the girls knew their parents would object.
So as a parent do you want your child pierced by another child without your knowledge?
The school did the right thing by calling the cops and avoiding possible lawsuits by angry parents.
I couldn’t find it, but there was a column or article once about a case where somebody playing around with his navel (that is, trying to clean it…) accidentally pierced the skin and did get an infection and died from it, and the warning attached was that although it was unlikely coincidence, it still had more risk than other areas because of the thinner skin in the navel.
Similar to how Cecil reported that picking your nose can be harmless, or can result in an infection that quickly kills you (because it’s close to the brain). Unlikely, but did happen.