InTheLight saidNow I don't think that if you wear an earing you're going to hell but I find modest apparel is good and desireable in the sight of God. roadsign saidThere are things that are worth fighting for, but areas of fashion, hair style, need to be treaded carefully. Far too many children/teens have been lost to the world, through rebellion, over unnecessary battles related to fashion. You might find this response slightly long and rambling but it's here for you to consider with what everyone else thinks too.Only a couple of days ago, my son (young adult) who now has several piercings in his ears, was asking the legal position of a 16 year old lad, who had gone ahead and got what's known as a 'snake bite', a ring piercing on each side of his lower lip. He still lives at home and his father is about to throw him out, with all sorts of bad names on his character, if he doesn't take the rings out. The problem is they are new - they need time - and, they would really hurt to take in and out at this point - in fact, even when they are old, will easily seal up again. This also happens to some people's ear piercings (seal up again) if they don't keep a ring or sleeper of some sort.When my daughter first asked for pierced ears, I was already decided I would make her wait till 12. As she would need my written permission until she was 16, she thought the better of making a big deal out of it, and just settled down to the wait. My brother-in-law, asked the same question by my niece, chose 16 - but his daughter picked a moment when he was very tired (the daughter of two psychologists!) to repeat her question, and got a reduction to 12 out of him.When I was six, my mother was very keen for me to get my ears pierced but I was not interested in looking like the natives amongst whom we lived at the time. In fact, she wanted mine pierced because she had wanted hers pierced when she was a child. Also, she was envious of the native children where we lived, who, as roadsign mentioned, get their ears pierced at a very early age.Another friend with two daughters, made both of them wait till they were 16, but after a year, the one who had been the most insistent, stopped wearing her earrings, and my friend concluded it was a phase - but I think she wears them again now.In fact, both this friend and myself have (this year) had our ears pierced. We live 400 miles apart and only discovered this during a phonecall. Having both given our children such a hard time, we had to laugh.....I think, with regard to fashion, there is one main question, to do with how much it would affect your testimony. In some cultures, it would be really unheard of, for the women not to wear earrings, but in not all of them, would Christians discourage this in new converts.On the other hand, I was asked by a new Chinese Christian in Glasgow once, why I was wearing a pendant (stone on a chain) round my neck, if I was a Christian. This is because in his culture, one of the signs of belief in Christ, is to have nothing round your neck. Everyone else (in his culture) is laden with 'lucky' charms and other objects intended to keep them safe from evil spirits.Personally, I do think 9 is young. I also think 9 is old enough for your daughter to take some personal responsibility for pleasing God, or, for acknowledging that she has been born into a Christian family and that brings with it certain constraints.I'll give you another strange cultural difference which is nothing to do with ears. My daughter commented one day, when she was 14 that she goes to school with people whose parents keep alcopops in the fridge and expect them to help themselves, but would never expect them to take a bus anywhere. Whereas I would never keep alcohol in the fridge and wouldn't let her drink it if I did, but I did expect her to take a bus if one was running to where she was going.My brother, you have to work this one out with your wife and the Lord. It does really matter how you do it though, so as to bring your daughter on board. Convincing your wife might be the harder part. Your daughter will want to please you, I think, even if you have to explain much more than you'd like, of the reasons for protecting her from looking too grown-up for her age. This is a good age to explain a lot of things, so take your time and use the opportunity to open a dialogue and definitely have the next 5 years in mind. She's a child now, but, by the end of 5 years, you will be looking at a young woman who at the beginning of the last century would have been putting on high heels and make-up to go to work. She needs your hugs and will still need them then. Don't fall out over this one.
