To Pierce or Not to Pierce?

If it were up to my mom, my daughter (that's Little D below!) would have a shaved head and pierced ears by now. It's not because she's some punk rock grandmother, or anything like that; it's because she's all about tradition. Though, she has dyed her hair many colors over the last 30 years. :) Where my parents are from (can you guess where?) and in their generation, girls wear earrings. That's how you distinguish girls from boys. It's as simple as that. And you get those ears pierced right away. Apparently, my mom's doctor, who delivered me and my two sisters, pierced our ears in the hospital "when you were born (ha ha)," my mom texted me earlier this week, when I asked. "At no extra cost." Huh...no one offered us such a deal.

To Pierce or Not to Pierce?

My daughter is now 13 months, so my mom has been pushing for this piercing business for a while. And we've received at least 3 pairs of earrings since Little D was born, which she also likes to remind me. That's one of the reasons why we don't let my mom leave our house with Little D-except for walks around the block. We're afraid she might take off to some random place and bring back a diamond-studded, buzzed-head toddler. The whole shaved head thing is actually a common tradition in a few countries. You shave the head of the baby at a particular age. "Tradition since I can remember, so hair will have more volume for those who have thin hair," my mom says. It's done when the baby turns 1 year old in her culture.  Funny thing, I even found a post about Tips for Shaving a Baby's Head, which shows how this isn't an unusual practice at all. So why haven't we done unto our baby as we've done unto ourselves, with the piercing and the head shaving? Especially considering between me and her dad we have had our ears pierced 13 times: me, 9 holes, 7 by choice; my husband, 4 holes that he can recall, 2 of which proudly displayed large plugs. (Just one of things that attracted me to him in the first place.) And, yeah, he and I have both had portions of our heads shaved at some point. Well, I can't speak for him, but I see my daughter's beautiful, naked, perfect ears and I love them just the way they are-free of bad smelling ear guck. But, it's more than that...I want to let her decide when it's right for her to experience that rite of passage: the first piercing! As for thickening Little D's thin, wispy brown hair (care of her Papa) I don't need to shave it. She's pulling it out on her own during her tired dance, pretty much just in straight rows on the left and right side of her head. What this is telling me is that this rocker doesn't want a shaved head-she wants a Mowhawk. So go for it, punk rocker. For the budding punk rocker in your life, here's a sample of "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" for your listening pleasure. Right now, buy Lullaby Renditions of The Ramones and 2 other CDs, and you get the 4^th CD free as part of our 4^th of July Special. Don't miss out!