Big decision for a little girl

In the ER, every now and then we get children as patients. I don’t enjoy dealing with kids mainly because I don’t like giving them shots or starting IVs on them. Some are pretty calm about it, but others go absolutely insane and it takes several people to hold them down which has got to be traumatizing no matter how soothing we try to make our voices sound.

I know for a fact that my daughter would be one of those fighters. If she gets a splinter in her finger, she goes off the deep end emotionally and when I try to simply take a look at it, she gets all distrustful and jerks her hand away like I’m hiding a screw driver up my sleeve.

I have never hurt this child outside of a spanking which was announced ahead of time, so I’m at a loss where she gets this attitude.

Because of her antics with the most minor of painful situations, when she broke the news last year that she wanted her ears pierced, I knew we had time.

First, I will say that I did not get her ears pierced when she was a baby because I wanted her to experience this rite of passage. I was seven when my own ears were done and I remember how exciting it was.

I’m not saying it is wrong for parents to have their baby girl’s ears pierced; I just wanted my daughter to be able to ask for this herself and go pick her first earrings and cherish that special time. I have friends who think I’m a big weenie about this, but that’s okay with me.

So after telling her about the procedure, she decided to wait a while longer and get clip-on earrings until she turned six.

Around her sixth birthday, she brought up the subject again so her dad took her to Claire’s in the mall to watch someone else get their ears done. She again decided to postpone.

This brings us to the present time. She was done waiting and wanted to forge ahead. She was ready to endure the pain and pestered us daily until we took her back to Claire’s this past Sunday.

She chose a set of flower earrings and sat in the chair. The piercer made little blue dots where the jewelry would be placed and gave our girl instructions about being very still. The left earring went in, “CACHUCK!”

The expression on her face suddenly changed. The woman immediately went to the other side, but our daughter wasn’t ready yet.

“No. Wait!” Her right shoulder went up protectively in front of her ear and her hands began frantically blocking. There would be trouble.

After a minute or so of scrambling around with her, the other earring was placed slightly higher than the first. It is barely noticeable.

She left with tears welled up in her eyes, but they never made it down her cheeks because she finally had earrings like all her friends.

The daily cleanings are a nightmare. For some reason, she’s convinced we are going to rip those flower posts out of her ear lobes. That kid!

After this past week and all the horrible news, I’m so thankful I am able to make these memories with my children. It truly saddens my heart to know that other parents are out there grieving the loss of their little ones. My prayers and thoughts are with them.