When I got home at 6:00am from my usual morning workout, I found my daughter not only already awake, but showered, dressed and ready to go for the day. All of this before she normally rolls out of bed. She seemed excited and anxious. I quickly found out why.
“I get my piercing today,” she said to me with a glimmer in her eye.
I then remembered she had an appointment later that day to get the cartilage of her upper ear pierced. She had been asking for awhile to have it done, and needed our permission and assistance since she’s a minor. Her mother and I decided that getting such a piercing would be harmless, AND a great opportunity to teach our daughter some important lessons:
Research The Product
As with any purchase, there are a lot of questions to research and compare. Our daughter talked to friends, and searched the internet and told us that she didn’t want to go to a mainstream piercing place in the mall as they use a piercing gun, which can kill nerve endings. She wanted to go somewhere that uses a needle. We also looked together at the websites of different piercing businesses to compare prices and read reviews. Armed with all of this information, we selected a business to perform our daughter’s piercing.
Understand Requirements
The business required that we bring our daughter’s birth certificate and picture ID. We had her birth certificate, but she needed to bring her student ID home from school. We reminded her of this on the day of her appointment, however she didn’t bring it home. Instead we brought with us her school picture envelope. This almost wasn’t enough, as they needed to somehow match an official document with her name and some sort of number on it, and be able to correlate that number with a picture. Luckily the envelope had her name and a number, which matched the number on an actual picture.
Come Up With Cash
We asserted to our daughter that if she wanted the piercing, she would have to pay for it. The cost of the actual procedure was $25, but she also needed to think about aftercare. There were several recommended products to use for aftercare of her piercing, including a product the business sold. My daughter decided to spend an extra $7 on a special cleaning product offered by the piercing business.
Protect Your Investment
For six weeks after the piercing, my daughter needs to clean her piercing three times a day with the cleaning solution. If she doesn’t, she runs a higher risk of it getting infected resulting in having to remove the piercing, having to go to the doctor, or both. This would be inconvenient, painful, and she would essentially lose the money she spent to get the piercing if it had to be removed.
The experience taught my daughter some great lessons about finances, value, and life. My wife and I are trying to teach our kids that if they work hard and save their money they can get the things they desire. We also want to teach them that getting the most value for their money requires research to find the best product and price as well as some work to be able to keep their purchase in good condition. I emphasized to my daughter the fact that she almost didn’t get her piercing because she didn’t bring her school ID home. She had questioned my wife when she stated it was needed. It wasn’t our requirement, and it just about blew her chance to get the piercing.
Getting a piercing was something our daughter wanted, but my wife and I saw it as an opportunity to teach her some important lessons that will benefit her as she grows into adulthood. The fact that allowing the piercing gave us some “cool parent” points was just a little added bonus.
